RSC Energia specialists made the designer’s inspection of the first manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-08 and performed technological operations for the Soyuz FG launch vehicle encapsulation.

The spacecraft pre-launch processing under the International Space Station Program is being conducted at the spacecraft assembly & testing facilities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Previosly, the spacecraft was mated to the transfer compartment.

Under the schedule of processing activities on Friday, March 16, the crews of Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft will perform check inspection of the spaceship and then it will be transported from the spacecraft processing facility to the launch vehicle integration and checkout facility for basic integration with Soyuz-FG launch vehicle.

The launch of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle with the Soyuz MS-08 manned transport spacecraft is scheduled for March 21, 2018 from Launch Pad No. 1 (Gagarin’s launch pad). The prime crew of the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft consists of commander, ROSCOSMOS cosmonaut, Oleg ARTEMIEV, flight engineers, NASA astronauts Andrew FEUSTEL and Richard ARNOLD. The backup crew consists of the spacecraft commander, ROSCOSMOS cosmonaut Alexei OVCHININ and flight engineer, NASA astronaut Nick HAGUE.