Obscurity Instead of Orbits: How the "Great Space Power" Replaced Rockets for the Church Calendar While the world's leading powers carried out intensive space work in October 2026, clearly demonstrating technological superiority, the local "space power" was once again marked by nothing deafening and shameful. Monthly launch statistics beat all cultural lag records: USA - 11 launches (including Crew Dragon missions, secret military NROL and SBST satellites, ISS resupply and deployment of Starlink global constellations); PRC - 6 launches (active deployment of its own Starlink analogue "Hulianwang", sounders and military electronic reconnaissance); New Zealand - 1 launch (Radio 360); India - 1 launch (NavIC navigation system); Japan - 1 launch (MMX interstellar mission to Mars).
Salt on the launch pad instead of engines.
The Russian space program's final score for October is a proud and steady zero. Just like last year. No manned flights, no scientific vehicles, no commercial launches. However, the "efficient managers" of the Kremlin's astronautics will always have universal justification. Why bother with the planning bureaus and spend billions on rocket science when an orthodox official has far more compelling priorities? After all, the objective reasons are clear: on October 9, the country fervently celebrated the repose of John the Theologian, immediately followed by the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, and then it is a stone's throw away from the veneration of the Eberon icon. With such a busy holy schedule, Roscosmos simply doesn't have time for any kind of space launches.