SOYUZ 2.1b ROCKET LAUNCH - Progress MS-35 (96P)

Video from the channel Space Orbit about Soyuz 2.1b, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 40:55. Language: Portuguese. Video type: Livestream.

The Brazilian channel Space Orbit is livestreaming, with commentary in Portuguese, the launch of a Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying the Progress MS-35 cargo spacecraft bound for the International Space Station. The liftoff takes place at Baikonur (Kazakhstan), while the host comments from Florida. The broadcast combines official Roscosmos and NASA feeds, with drone shots of the rocket on the pad, and alternates narration of the launch with reading messages from the chat.

During the countdown the host notes that the Soyuz burns RP-1 and liquid oxygen, that the rocket is fully expendable, and that the Progress carries cargo, supplies and experiments for the station's crew. Liftoff occurs under clear skies in evening light at the cosmodrome. The broadcast narrates the passage through supersonic speed, Max Q (the point of maximum structural stress), separation of the four strap-on boosters with the pattern known as the Korolev cross, second-stage ignition, fairing separation, second-stage shutdown with third-stage separation, and the final burn.

The host criticizes the graphic telemetry on the Russian feed: according to him, it always shows the same final speed and altitude values and reaches its ceiling figure before the stage's actual shutdown, suggesting it may have been left configured for the 2.1a version. During the lulls he discusses other current topics: the US announcement about space weapons (he believes these are anti-satellite capabilities such as jamming or lasers against sensors, not weapons against ground targets), the future of the Dragon capsule, and the upcoming Starship flight, which the broadcast presents as its first orbital flight.

According to the broadcast, the ascent is nominal: the Progress successfully separates from the third stage and deploys its solar panels. After a replay of the launch footage, the broadcast ends with a rundown of upcoming launches, including a Falcon from California, a Kuaizhou, an Electron, and several Long March rockets.