Preparations continue for the launch of transportation spacecraft Soyuz MS-08 under the program of the International Space Station.

Today, March 16, the crews of Soyuz MS-08 performed a check inspection of the spacecraft in its launch configuration, in the course of which the primary and backup crews familiarized themselves with the controls and checked out in the test mode the operational integrity of various systems of the spacecraft.

The members of the prime crew also inspected the Progress MS-09 transport cargo vehicle, which is scheduled for launch on July 10, 2018.

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.

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) of the Baikonur cosmodrome.