Ready to roll

The Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft that will carry ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli, NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik and Roscosmos commander Sergey Ryazansky to the International Space Station is now on the launch pad in Kazakhstan.

The craft was rolled out by train on 26 July 2017 from Baikonur Cosmodrome’s MIK 112 integration facility to pad 1. It now stands upright and is ready for liftoff on 28 July at 15:41 GMT (17:41 CEST).

The Soyuz MS is the latest upgrade to the Russian spacecraft and remains the only means of transporting crew to and from the Space Station.

The spacecraft is launched on a Soyuz FG rocket, a three-stage vehicle that stands 50 m tall and uses kerosene and liquid oxygen as propellants. Within 10 minutes of launch, it will have propelled the crew 200 km above Earth.

Follow Paolo Nespoli during his Vita mission at paolonespoli.esa.int and the Vita mission blog.