On March 19, the Soyuz-FG medium-range carrier rocket with the manned Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft was removed from the assembly and testing building and installed at the launch site of the Gagarinsky launch pad No. 1 of the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan.

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.

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.