Today, October 13, a new-series crew transportation spacecraft Soyuz MS-02 developed and built by RSC Energia was transported as a part of the upper composite to the site where it will be integrated with the launch vehicle Soyuz-FG.

The transportation was done by rail. A series of assembly and integration operations is scheduled for October 14 in the launch vehicle processing facility within the framework of preparations for a launch under the International Space Station (ISS) Program.

Prior to sending the upper composite unit with Soyuz MS-02 to the final integration, a second fit check was performed in the spacecraft processing facility, in the course of which the crews took their places in the upgraded spacecraft, familiarized themselves with the controls and checked out in the test mode the operational integrity of various systems, including the communications system.

The launch of the crew transportation spacecraft Soyuz MS-02 is scheduled for October 19 from Pad Area 31 of the Baikonur launch site.

The main crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko and NASA astronautRobert Shane Kimbrough. The backup crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Nikolai Tikhonov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

The new-series spacecraft Soyuz MS was developed as a result of a radical upgrade of Soyuz TMA spacecraft. It is designed to deliver crews of up to three and their accompanying cargoes to the International Space Station, as well as to return them to Earth. When attached to the ISS, it also serves as a crew rescue vehicle and is kept permanently ready for emergency crew return to Earth.