On the night of August 15, the Ukrainian defense forces carried out a series of long-range strikes against Russian military targets. One of the targets was the Progress rocket and space design and manufacturing center in Samara – a very important facility in the Russian space industry, reports Defense Express.
Read more The Spanish tourism gem Granada was shaken by an earthquake
This was confirmed on Saturday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
At about 4 a.m. local time, an air alert was declared in the Samara region. Around 3:40 a.m., local sources reported hearing the sound of a passing aircraft, a powerful explosion, and a huge fire breaking out.
Some videos suggest that two missiles were launched. This theory is indirectly confirmed by a recording from Fire Point’s chief designer Denis Shtilerman, which captures the launch of two PF-5 Flamingo cruise missiles.
Using one of the available images, investigators are trying to determine the exact strike location. It is preliminarily believed to be near the Progress rocket and space design and manufacturing center. However, the extent of the damage will only be confirmed after satellite images are received.
Why Progress is an important target
The Progress rocket and space design and manufacturing center produces Soyuz rockets. Soyuz-2.1b rockets have already launched Rassvet satellites into orbit twice, which are expected to become the basis for Russia’s developing Starlink analogue.
Soyuz-2.1b rockets are also used to launch other Russian military satellites. Therefore, serious damage to this facility could affect several Russian space programs at once, writes unian.net.
This company also develops Earth remote sensing devices and spacecraft for scientific missions.
The company is located on the territory of the Samara Aviakor factory. In fact, it is the only large manufacturing complex consisting of workshops stretching about 1 kilometer – all stages of Soyuz carrier rocket production take place there.
Preliminary estimates suggest the strike may have hit the western part of the complex, where the final production stages occur. If this information is confirmed, damage could have been done not only to the production facilities and equipment but also to rockets at various assembly stages.
Russia may lose the ability to promptly launch satellites
Before attacking Ukraine, Russia launched about 6–8 Soyuz-2.1b rockets per year. They were used for various space programs, including satellite launches commissioned by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
If the damage to the Progress center is significant, Russia may face serious problems carrying out future space flights. In that case, the country would only have already manufactured rockets delivered to cosmodromes, which may be just a few.
An alternative is the Angara family of rockets, produced at the Polyot factory in Omsk. However, their launch frequency is still much lower: since 2022, Russia has conducted only nine Angara launches – two heavy Angara-A5 and seven light Angara-1.2 versions.
The Progress rocket and space center is one of the most important Russian rocket and space industry enterprises.
