Today, March 12, ILV Soyuz was rolled out from the processing facility to the launch pad. The medium launch vehicle Soyuz-FG integrated with the Crew Transportation spacecraft (CTS) Soyuz MS-12 is erected on the launch pad of Area No.1 ("Gagarin's launch pad") of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Activities under the program of the first launch day have begun.
Specialists of RSC Energia and other leading companies of the rocket and space industry are performing final processing operations on the launch pad. Pre-launch tests are being run on systems and assemblies of the space launcher system, interfaces between the onboard hardware and ground support equipment are being checked out.
The launch of Soyuz MS-12 with the crew of the next expedition to the ISS is scheduled for March 14, 2019.
The main crew of ISS-59/60 consists of a Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch. Their backups are a Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov, an ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, and a NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan.
Earlier on March 11, representatives of the technical management and the state commission at the Baikonur cosmodrome made a decision on the readiness of the space transportation system consisting of the crew transportation spacecraft (CTS) SoyuzMS-12 and launch vehicle (LV) Soyuz-FG to be rolled out and erected on the launch pad.
In the course of one day, specialists from RSC Energia and other leading companies in the rocket and space industry have successfully completed final sequence of operations to assemble the integrated launch vehicle.
Yesterday, the crew transportation spacecraft Soyuz MS-12 developed and built by RSC Energia was transported as a part of the upper composite to the site where it was integrated with the launch vehicle Soyuz-FG.
Separately on Monday, and in accordance with the pre-launch processing plan on March 10 the crews of the upcoming expedition to the ISS conducted the second "fit check" – a check inspection of the launch-ready spacecraft.
After a briefing, the main and the backup crews took their seats in the spacecraft, familiarized themselves with locations of the payloads and equipment in the descent vehicle and the orbital module, checked the operability of various systems, including communications system, in test mode.
The main crew of ISS-59/60 consists of a Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch. Their backups are a Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov, an ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, and a NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan.
After the check inspection the crews went to the assembly shop of the RSC Progress affiliate to inspect the launch vehicle Soyuz-FG, which is going to put the crew transportation spacecraft Soyuz MS-12 into orbit on March 14, 2019.
Then, following a pre-launch tradition, the crews visited the museum of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, left there their signatures, and then visited the houses where Y.A. Gagarin and S.P. Korolev stayed at Baikonur.
