Baikonur: Soyuz 2.1a rocket which is going to place Soyuz MS 27 spacecraft into the orbit next week, has been installed on the launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Russian State Corporation Roscosmos said on Saturday.
According to Namibia Press Agency, ‘The rocket with a piloted spacecraft is at the Baikonur launch pad! After installing it into the vertical position at the launch complex, Roscosmos specialists continued to prepare it for the launch,’ Roscosmos said.
The launch is scheduled for 8:47 Moscow time (5:47 GMT) on April 8. The crew is made up of Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, as well as NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Russia Sergey Mikayev, and NASA astronaut Christopher Williams are the backup crew. The flight is expected to last for 245 days.
On March 27, Roscosmos said that the launch will be dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.