February 26, 2005. Baikonur Cosmodrome.

At 5:00 a.m. Moscow Time, the transporter with the Soyuz-U launch vehicle and the Progress M-52 spacecraft left the Assembly and Testing Facility and arrived to the launch pad for the final pre-launch processing. The Soyuz-U - Progress M-52 system was erected on the launcher. First launch day activities began.