The Russian rocket Soyuz-2.1a with the spaceship Yuri Gagarin (Soyuz MS-18) has been launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The launch took place from the 31st launch pad of the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Vostok launch complex) at 10:42 Moscow time. Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hi went to the International Space Station (ISS).
After about nine minutes, the spacecraft separated from the third stage of the launch vehicle and began its autonomous flight to the station, an announcer at the Baikonur Cosmodrome said. The rendezvous with the ISS will follow a two-circuit pattern and will take about 3.5 hours. Docking to the ISS Rassvet module is scheduled for 14:08 Moscow time on the same day.
Dmitry Rogozin, Roscosmos Director-General, Askar Mamin, Kazakh Prime Minister, Vladimir Medinsky, Russian Presidential Aide, Alexei Kudrin, head of the Accounts Chamber, Rene Pichel, head of the European Space Agency's office in Russia, Sergey Mikhailov, TASS Director-General and others watched the launch at the cosmodrome.
The Soyuz MS-18 spaceship was named after Yuri Gagarin, printed on the surface of the screen and vacuum heat insulation of the spacecraft's living compartment. The rocket has a sticker with the official logo of the 60th anniversary of the first human space flight. It shows a photo of Gagarin, his autograph, a star and the inscription "60 years of the first manned space flight".
Russian cosmonauts, who left for the ISS on April 9, will see off the Pirs module and welcome the Science multifunction module to the station. They will have to make several spacewalks to prepare for its docking and integration. In total, the expedition ISS-65, which went to the station will be carried out more than 50 scientific studies and experiments. Execution of two of them is planned in automatic mode. In particular, it is expected to conduct 19 studies on space medicine and biology, five - on space materials science, two - on the physics of cosmic rays, 20 related to the technology of space exploration.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Roscosmos
Based on materials from TASS