Baikonur launchsite saw traditional flag-raising ceremony taking place at the pad #17 in front of Cosmonaut hotel.

Today, October 19, 2016, 11.05, Moscow time, Soyuz MS-02 manned spacecraft was successfully launched by Soyuz-FG booster from #31 launchpad of Baikonur launchsite with crew commander Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos) and flight engineers Andrei Borisenko (Roscosmos) and Robert Shane Kimbrough (NASA) onboard.

The specialists have completed all scheduled works to prepare Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft for the launch and future docking with the ISS, - Mission Control Centre specislists reported.

The launch of Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft initially scheduled for September 23 and postponed due to technical reasons was preliminarily scheduled for October 19, - the spokesman reported.

In case specialists manage to eliminate all the failures in Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft and conduct additional testing necessary the launch can possibly take place within the period from October 12 to October 20, if not – it is planned to send Soyuz MS-03 to the ISS early November.

ussia informed NASA colleagues about the new possible date of Soyuz MS-02 launch. It will be November 01, 2016, instead of September 23, 2016.

Dear friends! Now you have an outstanding opportunity to witness such great historical event as Soyuz spacecraft launch. Take your chance to see international crew off to space from legendary Baikonur launchsite.

Baikonur saw official flag-raising ceremony. Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko raised the flag of Russia, Alexander Misurkin and Nickolay Tikhonov – the flag of Kazakhstan, NASA astronauts Robert Shane Kimbrough and Mark Vande Hei – the flag of USA.

Roscosmos state corporation is going to spend about 1,8 billion rubles to enhance Soyuz manned spacecraft and Progress cargo vehicle launches reliability.

Soyuz-U booster with Progress MS-03 cargo vehicle installed on the launchpad of Baikonur spaceport, Roscosmos spokesman reported.