On November 25, RSC "Energia" specialists at the Baikonur cosmodrome successfully completed a set of technological operations for docking of the "Soyuz MS-11" spacecraft with a transitional compartment of the "Soyuz-FG" launch vehicle. The launch of the "Soyuz-FG" launch vehicle with "Soyuz MS-11" spacecraft is scheduled for December 3, 2018 from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The main crew of the ISS-58/59 expedition is Roskosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, CSA astronaut David St. Jacques and NASA astronaut Anne McClain.

On November 21, at the 17th site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in front of the "Cosmonaut" Hotel, a ceremony was held to raise the flags of countries, participating in the "Soyuz MS-11" international manned launch to the International Space Station. The flag-raising ceremony is a long-standing tradition, that symbolizes the official launch of the final stage of crew preparation for a manned launch. After the flag-raising ceremony, Alexander Skvortsov, Luca Parmitano and Andrew Morgan went on a tour of Baikonur, which is traditional for the backup crew. Walking around the city, whose history is inextricably linked with the names of great people, involved in space exploration, the crew laid flowers at the monument to Yuri Gagarin and paid tribute to the legendary designer Sergey Korolev.

At the Baikonur cosmodrome the final stage of preparation of the crews of the 58/59 long expedition to the International Space Station began (main crew - Roskosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, CSA astronaut David Saint-Jacques and NASA astronaut Anne McClain and the backup crew -Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan). During the pre-launch training, the crews underwent general training on safety measures and checked their suits for tightness. Today in the Testing Training Complex of the GCTC at the 17th site of the cosmodrome will be held the flag-raising ceremony of the participating countries of the "Soyuz MS-11" launch program.

Yesterday morning, on November 19, after the farewell ceremonial of the main and backup crews of the ISS-58/59 in Star City, the cosmonauts and astronauts went to the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow, from where they flew to Kazakhstan by two special aircrafts to complete the final pre-launch preparation at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Today, the crews will conduct the first "fitting" of the "Soyuz MS-11" spacecraft, which is scheduled to start on December 3, 2018.   The main crew of the ISS-58/59 includes: Roskosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, CSA astronaut David Saint-Jacques and NASA astronaut Anne McClain.

On November 16, 2018, at 21:14 Moscow time, from the Baikonur cosmodrome, the "Soyuz-FG" launch vehicle was successfully launched under the International Space Station (ISS) program. The launch vehicle launched the "Progress MS-10" cargo spaceship into near-earth orbit. The automatic docking of the “spacetruck” with the ISS will take place on November 18 at 22:30 Moscow time.

Today, on November 14, the "Soyuz-FG" carrier rocket with "Progress MS-10" cargo spaceship was taken out of the assembly and test building and installed in the launch complex of the site № 1 of the Baikonur cosmodrome. Pre-launch tests of systems and units of the rocket-space complex are conducted, the interaction of the onboard equipment and ground equipment is checked. The launch of the "Progress MS-10" cargo spaceship by the "Soyuz-FG" carrier rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome is scheduled for November 16, 2018.

At the Baikonur cosmodrome, preparations are continuing for the launches of the "Soyuz MS-11" manned spacecraft and the "Progress MS-10" cargo spacecraft. During the preparation of the "Soyuz MS-11" spacecraft, the inspection of the ship’s systems and compartments for leak tightness in a vacuum chamber using helium-air conditions was successfully completed. The launch of the "Soyuz MS-11" spacecraft is scheduled for December 3, 2018. Also at Baikonur cosmodrome the RSC "Energia" specialists conducted a design inspection of the "Progress MS-10" cargo ship and carried out technological operations on rolling the head fairing of the launch vehicle. The launch of the "Progress MS-10" cargo vehicle by the "Soyuz-FG" carrier rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome is scheduled for November 16, 2018 from the launch complex № 1 (Gagarinsky start).

Experts of "RSC Energia" at the Baikonur cosmodrome on November 6 and 7 successfully completed the operations on refueling the "Progress MS-10" cargo vehicle with fuel components and compressed gases at the filling station. The launch of the "Progress MS-10" cargo vehicle by the "Soyuz-FG" carrier rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome is scheduled for November 16, 2018. The ship will deliver to the ISS about 2.5 tons of various cargoes, including dry cargo, fuel in tanks and refueling systems, water and compressed gases.

October 24 is considered to be the black day in the history of Russian space exploration. On this date within three years period Russian cosmonautics faced two terrible accidents with heavy losses. Since then no launches are planned for this date and more over no serious maintenance operations are accomplished. October 24 is also considered to be as fallen rocket specialists memorial day.

Roscosmos has not yet confirmed the exact dates of the launches to the ISS, the discussion is in progress. The launch schedule will be settled after the commission work on the investigation of the Soyuz-FG accident is done, says Vladimir Ustimenko, the Roscosmos representative. Earlier, a number of Russian news agencies announced that the Soyuz MS-11 launch date would be December 3 and the docked Soyuz MS-09 was to be back on December 20.