SOYUZ-2.1B LAUNCH - GONETS-M
Video from the channel SpaceToday about Soyuz 2.1b, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 40:53. Language: Portuguese. Video type: Livestream.
What's being broadcast
Live broadcast, in Portuguese and from a Brazilian outreach channel, of the launch of a Soyuz 2.1b from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia on 22 October 2022. The host comments over the official Russian feed, which airs without sound to avoid music rights issues. It was the channel's second launch coverage that day, after an Indian launch carrying 36 OneWeb satellites.
As payload, the rocket carried four satellites. Three belonged to the Russian Gonets system, for mobile satellite communications serving ships, offshore platforms and remote locations. Before liftoff, the host describes the launcher: 46.3 metres tall, 10.3 metres in diameter including the boosters, 313 tonnes in mass, four strap-on boosters and a Fregat upper stage. He also explains the so-called Korolev cross, the pattern the strap-on boosters draw in the sky when they separate.
Key moments
The countdown has no on-screen clock, because the Russian feed removes it in the final minutes. The service towers are seen retracting, the engines ignite and the rocket lifts off. Onboard cameras show the separation of the strap-on boosters and the Korolev cross at around two minutes into the flight, the release of the payload fairing, the separation of the second stage and the interstage, and finally the separation of the Fregat orbital block with the payload.
Between phases, the host answers questions from the chat. He also reviews the launches planned for the following days, including a Progress mission, a Falcon Heavy on 31 October and Artemis 1 in November.
Outcome
According to the broadcast, the flight proceeds normally through all its phases and ends with the separation of the Fregat, which the host describes as a perfect launch.