Launch vehicle with Soyuz MS-13 CTS is on the launch pad
July 18, 2019
Today, 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-13 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 from 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-13 with the crew of the next expedition to the ISS is scheduled for July 20, 2019 from the Baikonur launch site.
The main crew of Expedition ISS-60/61 are: a Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov, an ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, and a NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan. Their backup are a Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov, a NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn and a JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi.