Soyuz in position for liftoff
The Soyuz VS14 rocket is ready for liftoff in the launch tower at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, from where it will loft Europe’s Sentinel-1B satellite and ESA’s Education ‘Fly Your Satellite!’ student-built CubeSats into orbit on 22 April at 21:02 GMT (23:02 CEST).
In the early morning of Tuesday 19 April, the Soyuz rocket did its last trip of 625 metres on Earth, from the building where it was assembled to the launch pad. The transfer was accompanied by a convoy of people directly working for Soyuz operations, as well as enthusiastic satellite programme personnel and those working on site, who paid due respect to the tradition of putting small coins on the railway upon which Soyuz was travelling on.
In the afternoon, the fairing containing the Fregat upper stage and all satellites of the VS-14 flight were slowly transferred to the gantry and, before the end of a very long day, the fairing was lifted 27 metres high and subsequently installed on top of Soyuz.
The Sentinel and ‘Fly Your Satellite!’ CubeSat teams are happy to see their satellites sitting on top of the Soyuz launcher, and are feeling the excitement build up as they get ready for “D0”, the launch day on 22 April!
Read more here about Sentinel-1B getting ready for liftoff.
