In an unusual situation, Roscosmos launched the Soyuz MS-14 crew vehicle without any humans aboard. The move is testing critical upgrades to the Soyuz MS series spacecraft, specifically the vehicle’s abort system interface with the upgraded Soyuz 2.1a rocket which will take over crew launch duties next year.

While no humans were aboard, Soyuz MS-14 carried a humanoid robot, called Skybot, up to the International Space Station. While the liftoff – from Site No. 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 23:38:31 EDT on Wednesday – was nominal. The docking on Saturday was aborted ahead of final approach due to issues with the KURS rendezvous system on the ISS. Following a relocation of Soyuz MS-13, MS-14 docked on Monday night.

No humans for Soyuz MS-14:

Soyuz MS-14 was purposely not carrying any humans to orbit, instead acting as a test vessel to perform in-flight verification and validation of new motion control and navigation systems, a revamped descent control system, and a new abort system software interface with the Soyuz 2.1a carrier rocket.

This non-human test flight is necessary to clear the way for Russian crew launch transition from the Soyuz-FG to the Soyuz 2.1a rocket beginning in Spring 2020.

The Soyuz 2.1a rocket was designed from the outset to be a crew launch vehicle; however, delays to its introduction led to the creation of the Soyuz-FG rocket to bridge the gap between the aging Soyuz-U and the Soyuz 2.1a.

With Soyuz 2.1a now in steady operation and ready to assume crew flight duties, Roscosmos is conducting this non-human mission to verify that the Soyuz MS spacecraft’s Launch Abort System will not trigger when the Soyuz 2.1a rocket rolls onto the proper azimuth (heading) after liftoff.

Prior crew vehicle launches from Russia utilized the Soyuz-U and Soyuz-FG rockets, which both used analog Flight Control Systems. Those systems were incapable of rolling the rocket onto course after launch.

Therefore, the Soyuz-U and Soyuz-FG rockets had to literally be turned on their launch pad to the correct launch azimuth so that all the rocket had to do after liftoff was simply pitch over onto the proper trajectory.

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As such, the Soyuz MS crew spacecraft’s Launch Abort System was designed so that if it detected a roll in the rocket’s orientation it would trigger the abort system to pull the crew away from what would be a failing rocket.

But the Soyuz 2.1a uses digital Flight Control Systems and performs a roll to align itself to the correct launch azimuth after lifting off.

That creates a disconnect between the Soyuz 2.1a rocket and the Soyuz MS-series crew vehicle.

To account for this, Roscosmos has designed a software patch that will now be tested in-flight with Soyuz MS-14.

Essentially, this patch tells the Soyuz MS-14’s flight computers that a roll after liftoff is “Okay” and to not trigger an abort when the roll program begins.

The Launch Abort System for the Soyuz is a critical safety feature – as seen in October 2018 when the Soyuz MS-10 mission aborted at booster separation because of a critical failure of the Soyuz-FG rocket.

The abort saved the lives of the two crewmembers, who are currently on the International Space Station having relaunched on their mission in March 2019.

Здравствуйте, друзья! Сегодня учился открывать бутылку минеральной воды и подносить её к технологическому отверстию, которые вы называете ртом pic.twitter.com/pfrjyHXCih — FEDOR (@FEDOR37516789) July 28, 2019

In addition to the abort system test, this mission is performing in-flight testing of a new navigation system and a revamped descent control system. This will rigorously test these new systems that will be standard on the upcoming Soyuz GVK uncrewed cargo spacecraft that is set to debut in 2022.

A detailed launch to docking rendezvous timeline is available on L2.

While the flight was proceeding without issue, the final leg of its arrival suffered an issue when the KURS system failed to lock on to the Soyuz, resulting in the spacecraft slewing ahead of final approach.

KURS won't lock on for final approach. Soyuz MS-14 is basically slewing all over the place. Won't be final approach unless this is corrected. pic.twitter.com/4peFya8LS0 — Chris B – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) August 24, 2019

With the crew losing sight of the vehicle and having to find it by looking out of the window, controllers in Houston called up to make sure the US crew was awake, as the situation became slightly tense. However, there was no immediate danger to the ISS given the Soyuz was not approaching as final approach was not commanded.

An abort was commanded and the Soyuz began to depart the region surrounding the ISS, called the Keep Out Zone.

Soyuz MS-14 still departing. Aborted docking attempt. KURS failed to lock on and the Russian ISS crew lost track of it. ABORT commanded. MS-14 does not have a TORU back up system. pic.twitter.com/wxrdmxfhmp — Chris B – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) August 24, 2019

The issue was the result of a problem on the ISS – the KURS signal amplifier – as opposed to the Soyuz itself. This system will be replaced while another attempt to dock the Soyuz will take place next week.

However, this will be via a convoluted plan, where the Russian crew enter Soyuz MS-13, move it to another port and then make a second attempt to dock Soyuz MS-14 on the vacated port.

The first part – the relocation of Soyuz MS-13 – was successfully completed.

REDOCKING: Manual relocation of Soyuz MS-13 has been successful. Now Soyuz MS-14 can arrive in less than 24 hours time. pic.twitter.com/bCbbWw5aF6 — Chris B – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) August 26, 2019

Soyuz MS-14 then evenutally followed the mitigation path by docking with the vacated spot on Monday.

A robotic crewmember for Soyuz and the Station:

While Soyuz MS-14 was not carrying humans to space, it does have a crewmember.

Skybot F-850, formerly known simply as FEDOR (Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research), is a Russian humanoid robot – complete with arms and legs – built to replicate the movements of a remote operator.

Skybot can also conduct some actions autonomously.

The robotic humanoid will – in part – provide G-force and temperature information inside Soyuz during the various phases of launch and rendezvous with the Station.

After the rendezvous with the Station, Skybot will be brought inside the ISS where a series of movement tests – both commanded by the Russian crew and autonomously performed – will be carried out by the Russian crew during the robot’s 2 week mission.

In addition to the motion tests, Skybot will also test its voice program and ability to communicate with the Station’s Russian crew. It will also assist the crew with certain task in order to assess the robot’s ability to function in microgravity.

In so doing, Skybot will become the second semi-autonomous robotic humanoid to carry out a mission aboard the Station.

The first was NASA’s Robonaut2.

Unfortunately, the two ISS robotic crewmembers will not meet each other as Robonaut2 is currently on Earth undergoing final upgrades before re-launching to the Station.

After two weeks on Station, Skybot will be placed back inside the Soyuz MS-14’s Descent Module. Soyuz will then undock from the ISS on 6 September for landing back in Kazakhstan.

During Deorbit, Reentry, and Landing, Skybot will once again provide G-force and temperature regime information.

This is currently Skybot’s only planned mission to the Station, though Russian officials have not ruled out a much longer follow-up mission should this one prove successful.

Skybot and Robonaut2 – the ISS’s robotic crewmembers:

Skybot – in a sense – is the Russian cousin of NASA’s Robonaut2 robotic humanoid.

Robonaut2 launched to the International Space Station on 24 February 2011 on the Space Shuttle Discovery’s STS-133 mission.

After 7 years in space, Robonaut2 returned to Earth on 5 May 2018 on the CRS-14 SpaceX Dragon for maintenance, repairs, and upgrades.

At the CRS-14 pre-launch news conference, NASA stated that the plan was to relaunch Robonaut2 in “about a year.”

Now a little more than a year later, NASASpaceflight checked on the status of Robonaut2. In response, NASA said, “As of now, Robonaut2 is targeted for a return to the International Space Station no earlier than (NET) late 2019. Teams continue to prepare Robonaut2 for on-orbit tasks, complete fit checks and train future crew members heading to station.”

Based on the “late 2019” relaunch date, two options are available: The NG-12 Cygnus flight from Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, which is targeting a NET 21 October launch, or the SpaceX CRS-19 Dragon mission, currently targeting launch NET 4 December. </s> If you would like to see more articles like this please support our coverage of the space program by becoming a Spaceflight Now Member . If everyone who enjoys our website helps fund it, we can expand and improve our coverage further.

An unpiloted Russian Soyuz spacecraft, with a humanoid robot in the commander’s seat instead of a cosmonaut, is scheduled for liftoff late Wednesday (U.S. time) from Kazakhstan on a test flight to verify the spaceship’s compatibility with the new-generation Soyuz-2.1a rocket set to begin launching crews to the International Space Station next year.

Flying without a crew, the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft set for launch from Site 31 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:38:31 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0338:31 GMT; 8:38:31 a.m. local time Thursday) to kick off a two-day pursuit of the space station.

The Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft will be the first Soyuz ship to fly without a cosmonaut crew in 33 years. Officials from Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, decided to conduct the unpiloted launch as a full-up test flight of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket with the Soyuz spacecraft.

The Soyuz-2.1a rocket variant has launched dozens of times since 2004, including ten flights with Progress cargo freighters on missions to resupply the space station.

But one of the Progress supply ships launched on a Soyuz-2.1a booster in April 2015 went into an uncontrolled spin after separating from the Soyuz third stage. Russian engineers traced the failure to a botched deployment of the Progress spacecraft from the Soyuz third stage.

The 2015 Progress accident prompted Russian officials to fly the first Soyuz crew capsule on a Soyuz-2.1a rocket without people aboard.

The Soyuz-FG variant currently used to launch Soyuz crews to the space station is set for retirement later this year.

One more Soyuz-FG rocket remains in Russia’s inventory, and it is scheduled to launch Sept. 25 carrying the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft into orbit with commander Oleg Skripochka, NASA co-pilot Jessica Meir and flight engineer Hazzaa Ali Almansoori, set to become the first person from the United Arab Emirates to fly in space.

The Sept. 25 launch of the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft is the final planned mission to lift off from Site 1 at Baikonur, the same facility used on the launch of Yuri Gagarin on humanity’s first orbital flight in April 1961.

Beginning next March, Soyuz crews will launch on Soyuz-2.1a boosters from Site 31 at Baikonur, which is outfitted for the upgraded Soyuz-2 family.

The Soyuz-2.1a’s upgrades include a modernized digital flight control system, replacing the analog guidance system on older Soyuz models, along with improvements to engine injection systems.

After launching from Kazakhstan, the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft will raise its altitude and match its orbit with the space station, setting up for a docking with the Poisk module at 0530 GMT (1:30 a.m. EDT) Saturday.

Instead of a crew, the Soyuz MS-14 spaceship will haul 1,450 pounds (657 kilograms) of cargo to the space station, including the Russian Skybot F-850 robot, a two-legged, two-armed humanoid stand-in for a cosmonaut commander.

The Skybot F-850 will not manipulate any flight controls during the Soyuz mission, but sensors on the robot’s body will measure key environmental parameters during the flight, including launch, docking and landing.

Alexander Bloshenko, a science advisor at Roscosmos, said the Skybot F-850 robot will conduct experiments at the space station prepared by Russian engineers.

Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov will work with Skybot F-850 after it arrives at the station. Skvortsov will be able to communicate with the robot, according to Roscosmos.

Skybot F-850 will copy the movements of Skvortsov during a series of tests in orbit. If the tests are successful, Russia could launch upgraded robots that could work outside the space station, helping crews with tasks on spacewalks, or allowing cosmonauts to avoid spacewalks altogether, Bloshenko said.

The Skybot F-850 robot is an evolution of Russia’s FEDOR series of robots, which engineers originally developed for rescue operations. Videos from ground testing have shown the FEDOR robot shooting guns, lifting weights and driving a car.

The Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects, with a role similar to DARPA in the U.S. government, led the development of the FEDOR robot.

Skybot F-850 is not the first robot to travel to the space station.

NASA’s experimental Robonaut 2 robot launched to the station in 2011, but the robot returned to Earth last year in need of repairs. Robonaut 2 could return to the space station later this year.

Roscosmos created a Twitter account for the Russian robot set to fly to the station, complete with tweets composed from Skybot F-850’s point-of-view.

In one tweet, it wrote that conditions inside the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft were tight. The robot can “barely fit among the cargo in the cabin” of the spaceship, the tweet said.

The Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft will remain at the space station for more than 13 days. The spaceship — with Skybot F-850 — will undock from the Poisk module at 2:13 p.m. EDT (1813 GMT) on Sept. 6, heading for a parachute-assisted landing in south-central Kazakhstan at 5:35 p.m. EDT (2135 GMT). </s> Roscosmos – the Russian space agency – launched its Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft on August 22, 2019, to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission was initially scheduled to dock at the station’s space-facing Poisk module on August 24, 2019. However, the spacecraft was commanded to back away when a malfunction of equipment on the ISS prevented it from locking on to the module. The spacecraft successfully carried out a second docking attempt on August 26. The Soyuz carries 1,450 pounds (658 kg) of cargo containing food and medical supplies, and equipment to aid scientific experiments. Plus it carries Skybot F-850 – a humanoid robot – that will be tested for its functional capabilities in microgravity. The ISS took to Twitter to confirm Soyuz MS-14’s arrival:

The spacecraft with its robot cargo is currently at the station’s Zvezda module; Zvezda is Russian for star.

The unmanned spacecraft lifted off without any hitches onboard the Soyuz 2.1a rocket booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. In addition to testing the humanoid robot Skybot, the mission also aims to assess the spacecraft’s new motion control and navigation systems. The spacecraft’s compatibility with the 2.1a rocket will also be studied since Roscosmos aims to use the rocket to launch Russian crews beginning in spring 2020.

Watch the replay of Soyuz MS-14’s launch here

After two smooth days into its journey, only when the spacecraft was within about 300 feet (100 meters) of its original target – the ISS’ Poisk module – on August 24 was the fault in the station’s telemetry detected. To ensure the safety to the crew aboard the ISS, the docking of Soyuz MS-14 was called off and the spacecraft moved a safe distance away.

In order to attempt docking a second time, the Russian cosmonauts manually detached the Soyuz MS-13 from the Zvezda module on August 26, 2019. This 25-minute long relocation of Soyuz MS-13 from the Zvezda module to the Poisk module opened up Zvezda for Soyuz MS-14, where it is currently latched on.

Bottom line: Russia’s Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft has docked safely at the station’s Zvezda module. It carries supplies for the crew and a humanoid robot. </s> A Russian Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft successfully docked to the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday night, after it failed to go to its “parking spot” on August 24.

The uncrewed Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft, which had a humanoid robot on board, successfully attached to the space station’s Zvezda module at 11:08 p.m. EDT on August 26, NASA said in a press release. The Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft, which delivered 1,450 pounds of cargo, including the Skybot F-850 humanoid robot, to the Expedition 60 crew, will stay at the orbiting laboratory for 14 days.

“The second time was the charm,” NASA spokesperson Rob Navias said during live commentary after the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft docked at the space station. “A flawless approach.”

Unlike other Soyuz capsules, the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft is the first to visit the space station without human crew members, Space.com reported.

Over the weekend, the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft aborted its first docking attempt due to a potential issue with an amplifier of a navigation system on the space station.

On August 22, the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft was sent on a test flight with an upgraded Soyuz 2.1 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The test flight to the space station aims to monitor the spacecraft’s compatibility with the revamped Soyuz booster rocket. According to NASA, the Soyuz 2.1 booster features a new digital flight control system and upgraded engines. Starting next spring, the booster will be used to transport crews to the space station. </s> Call it one giant leap for a robot. Russia has launched a humanoid robot named "Fyodor" to the International Space Station on the first uncrewed ever to visit the orbiting laboratory.

The Soyuz capsule — which typically carries a crew of three into space — lifted off with food, supplies and from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan late Wednesday (Aug. 21) at 11:38 p.m. EDT (0338 Aug. 22 GMT) It was 8:38 a.m. Thursday local time at the launch site.

The Soyuz capsule launched into orbit atop a Soyuz 2.1a rocket, a variant of Russia's workhorse booster that has only flown uncrewed Progress vehicles until now. Its Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft for the station's six-person crew.

"A flawless climb to orbit for Soyuz MS-14 in its test flight, the first launch of a Soyuz vehicle on a 2.1a booster," NASA spokesperson Rob Navias said during live launch commentary.

Navias said Russia's Skybot F-850, affectionately nicknamed "Fyodor," appeared to be doing well as it sat in the commander's seat of the Soyuz spacecraft. A television view from inside the Soyuz showed the robot clutching a small Russian flag in its right hand as a toy cosmonaut bobbed around the cabin as a zero-gravity indicator.

"He made it to orbit and is en route to the International Space Station," Navias said of the robot.

According to Navias, this Soyuz launch is a critical shakedown flight to test the performance of the upgraded Soyuz capsule and the Soyuz 2.1a booster before the first crewed flight on the rocket in March 2020.

"The Soyuz 2.1a booster, equipped with a new digital flight control system and upgraded engines, is replacing the Soyuz FG booster that has been used for decades to launch crews into space," NASA officials . "The Soyuz spacecraft will have an upgraded motion control and navigation system, as well as a revamped descent control system," they added.

The mission will also help Roscosmos develop a cargo version of the Soyuz capsule capable uncrewed reentry to return experiments and other gear to Earth, Navias said. Russia's Progress cargo ships can currently only deliver supplies, and are filled with trash and discarded at the end of their missions.

If all goes well, Soyuz MS-14 will arrive at the International Space Station early Saturday (Aug. 24).

While Fyodor sat in the commander's seat during the launch, it is not piloting the spacecraft to its destination later this week. Rather, the Soyuz's own navigation system (called Kurs) will automatically direct the spacecraft to rendezvous and dock with the space station.

If Kurs fails, the Russian cosmonauts on the space station can send a command to Soyuz to disable Kurs and trigger an abort, sending the spacecraft to a safe distance away, NASA officials told Space.com.

How the Fyodor Skybot fares on this mission will help inform on how comfortable astronauts feel on the Soyuz 2.1a rocket as they rattle through launch, streak through Earth's atmosphere and make an approach to their orbiting home in space. The robot is such as the forces it encounters during flight, including the point at which it begins to feel microgravity.

Fyodor is one of the , a five-year-old line of humanoids that are so versatile they have been used in driving cars or conducting rescue work. As the first of its kind in space, the Fyodor Skybot F-850 includes unique features such as vibration-resistant materials, and algorithms to reduce its movement so that it does not accidentally damage the International Space Station.

But FEDOR's advanced robot hands will be included on Skybot; in past tests on Earth, these have been used for dexterous tasks such as working fire extinguishers or welding gas torches – impressive feats, although both unlikely activities for Skybot in the confined environment of the space station.

Once the Fyodor robot reaches the International Space Stations, cosmonauts will move it into the Russian Poisk module for five days of experiments and tests to see how it performs in microgravity. The robot will then be packed back aboard the Soyuz for a return trip to Earth on Sept. 6.

Fyodor is the latest in a lineup of space robots for station activities.

NASA's (which has a head and arms, but no legs) performed simple test tasks between 2011 and 2014. Following some difficulties, it was returned to Earth in 2018 , and should make another flight to the space station in 2020.

Other space station robots have included a European "social robot" that recognizes faces (also known as ), the Japanese Kirobo robot , and a couple of generations of NASA free-flying robots ( and the more advanced ).

Editor's Note: Visit Space.com Saturday for live docking coverage of the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft carrying the Fyodor Skybot F-850 robot. NASA's live webcast will begin at 12:45 a.m. EDT (0445 GMT), with docking scheduled for 1:30 a.m. EDT (0530 GMT).
• None The International Space Station: Inside and Out (Infographic)
• None Cosmic Quiz: Do You Know the International Space Station?

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter and on . </s> The manoeuvre was aimed at freeing up the docking port on the Zvezda module for a repeated attempt to dock a Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft with humanoid robot FEDOR inside, scheduled for 03:12 GMT on Tuesday. The Soyuz MS-14 failed to dock with the ISS on Saturday due to a malfunction of a signal amplifier on the Kurs automated rendezvous system for the Poisk module's docking port.

The redocking was completed at 03:59 GMT.

The crew of the Soyuz MS-13 during the operation included Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan.

The operation to redock the spacecraft was carried out by Skvortsov in manual mode, and the crew was wearing Sokol spacesuits for safety reasons.

The Soyuz MS-14 with humanoid robot Skybot F-850, nicknamed FEDOR, was successfully launched into space on Thursday. On Saturday, the spacecraft, however, failed to dock at the ISS on schedule and started retreating from the station. The spacecraft was later pulled to a safe distance from the ISS.

Apart from Skvortsov, Parmitano and Morgan, the ISS crew currently comprises Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague. </s> MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th August, 2019) The manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-13 and its crew completed eventual redocking from the Zvezda module of the International Space Station (ISS) to the Poisk module, according to a broadcast conducted by Russian space agency Roscosmos on its website.

The maneuver was aimed at freeing up the docking port on the Zvezda module for a repeated attempt to dock the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft with humanoid robot FEDOR inside, which is scheduled for 03.12 GMT on Tuesday. The Soyuz MS-14 failed to dock with the ISS on Saturday due to malfunction of a signal amplifier of the Kurs automated rendezvous system for the Poisk module's docking port.

The redocking was completed at 03.59 GMT.

The crew of the Soyuz MS-13 during the operation included Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan.

The operation to redock the spacecraft was carried out by Skvortsov in manual mode, and the crew was wearing the Sokol spacesuits for safety reasons.

The Soyuz MS-14 with humanoid robot Skybot F-850, nicknamed FEDOR, on board was successfully launched into space on Thursday. On Saturday, the spacecraft, however, failed to dock at the ISS on schedule and started retreating from the station. Later, the spacecraft was pulled to a safe distance from the ISS.

Apart from Skvortsov, Parmitano and Morgan, the ISS crew currently comprises Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague. </s> In a critical test before using an upgraded booster to launch crews to the International Space Station, the Russians launched an unpiloted Soyuz crew ferry ship from Kazakhstan late Wednesday. It had a humanoid robot known as the Skybot F-850 strapped into the commander's seat.

Carrying sensors to measure launch vibrations, accelerations and other environmental factors, the robot will be brought inside the station after docking Saturday for five days of engineering tests. It then will be strapped back in for a return to Earth on Sept. 6.

But the primary goal of the flight is to verify the suitability of the upgraded Soyuz-2.1a booster to launch astronauts and cosmonauts to the station and to check out a variety of Soyuz upgrades. According to initial reports from Russian flight controllers, it did just that, chalking up a flawless climb to space.

"Reports from the Russian mission control center indicate the 2.1a booster did its job perfectly, placing the Soyuz MS-14 into a perfect orbit on its trajectory toward the International Space Station," said Rob Navias, NASA launch commentator at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The 2.1a rocket already had been successfully used to launch unpiloted Progress cargo ships, but one of those suffered a malfunction in 2015. While the problem was resolved, the Russians decided to stage one flight with a Soyuz crew ship as a final test.

The next Soyuz crew -- commander Oleg Skripochka, NASA Flight engineer Jessica Meir and United Arab Emirates guest cosmonaut Hazzaa Ali Almansoori -- is scheduled for launch Sept. 25 aboard an older-style Soyuz-FG booster. That will be the final crew launch off the pad Yuri Gagarin used -- Site 1 -- at the dawn of the space age.

If all goes well, the Russians will begin launching crews aboard the Soyuz-2.1a booster early next year from site 31, the pad used Wednesday, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The test flight got underway at 11:38 p.m. EDT (8:38 a.m. Thursday local time) when the rocket's first-stage engines rumbled to life with a familiar burst of flaming exhaust. An instant later, the rocket began climbing away from its firing stand, launching directly into the plane of the space station's orbit.

The launching marked the first unpiloted flight of a Soyuz spacecraft in 33 years.

In-cabin video showed the 350-pound Skybot F-850, also known as FEDOR, an acronym for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, strapped into the command module's center seat, holding a red, white and blue Russian flag.

The climb to space appeared to go smoothly and eight minutes and 45 seconds after liftoff, the booster's third stage engine shut down and the Soyuz MS-14/60S spacecraft separated to fly on its own. A few moments later, the ferry ship's two solar arrays and navigation antennas unfolded and locked in place.

In-cabin video showed the Skybot moving its head up, then to the right and left as if looking around the cockpit. It was, presumably, carrying out commands beamed up from the Russian mission control center.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said in a widely reported tweet, "We are not creating a terminator but artificial intelligence which will have a great practical importance in various fields."

In any case, the Soyuz flight plan called for a series of remotely programmed rendezvous rocket firings to catch up with the space station, setting up an autonomous docking at the upper Poisk module around 1:30 a.m. Saturday. The ferry ship is scheduled to undock from the station on Sept. 6, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to wrap up its mission. </s> Smoke rise as the boosters of first stage of the Soyuz-FG rocket with Soyuz MS-10 space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, separate after the launch at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. The Russian rocket carries U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin. The two astronauts are making an emergency landing after a Russian booster rocket carrying them into orbit to the International Space Station has failed after launch. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky) (AP)
The uncrewed Soyuz MS-14 mission to resupply the International Space Station commences. Its launch is a successful test of a Soyuz spacecraft atop a Soyuz-2 launch vehicle, which will replace the Soyuz-FG as the carrier rocket for Soyuz spacecraft starting next year.