Today, on February 21, 2019, from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 19:47 (Moscow time), the launch vehicle "Soyuz-2" with the "Fregat" upper stage and the "Egyptsat-A" satellite, created in the interests of the Arab Republic of Egypt, was launched. The 'Egyptsat-A' satellite is designed to capture the earth's surface with high resolution. After the finish of the flight test program, the satellite control will be transferred to the Egyptian side.

Less than a month is left before the launch of the "Soyuz MS-12" spacecraft. Yesterday at the GCTC was the second day of complex examination exercises, based on which will be decided to continue preflight crew training at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Encouraged by the “excellent” grade for the first examination training on the ISS, the main crew of the ISS-59/60 began today the final day of testing on the "Soyuz" spacecraft simulator. At the end of exams of the main crew of the ISS-59/60 the commission summarized the results of the second exam day.

The main crew of the ISS approached the most important stage of preparation at the GCTC - the complex exam training. During the examination session, the commission assesses the actions of the crew in the work with the equipment and life support systems at the station. The exam result also determines the reaction of future participants of a long expedition to emergency situations. The crew must timely detect the failure or mismatch of the ISS systems, determine the nature of the incident and promptly make a decision to get out of this situation. From the quality of their actions depends the score for the exam day.

At the Baikonur cosmodrome preparations are continuing for the launch of the "Soyuz MS-12" spacecraft. Completed checking the systems and compartments of the ship for tightness in a modernized vacuum chamber. The launch of the "Soyuz MS-12" spacecraft is scheduled for March 2019.

On February 18 at the Baikonur cosmodrome, the prelaunch preparation of a space rocket with the satellite "Egyptsat-A" began. The launch of the satellite is scheduled for Thursday, February 21, 2019, at 19:47 Moscow time. The "Egyptsat-A" satellite is designed for imaging of the Earth’s surface with high resolution and was created in the interests of the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Having successfully passed the exams on manual control of transport manned and cargo spaceships, the main crew of the ISS this Monday continued to pass the "space" exams. The working week of "Soyuz MS-12" commander Alexey Ovchinin and flight engineer Nick Hague began with the manual-controlled descent exam on the TC-7 simulator, based on the CF-7 centrifuge base. Taking into account that Alexey and Nick passed such exam on the Soyuz spacecraft several months ago as part of "Soyuz MS-10" crew training, the high level of their knowledge and skills during the training was rated by the commission as “excellent”. The examination week of the main crew of the ISS continued with a test of knowledge of the Russian segment of the International Space Station. The two-week training sessions for the main crew of the ISS were the final training for the complex exams, which are to be held by Alexey Ovchinin, Nick Hague and Christina Koch after one week.

Customers, launching small devices and devices of the "Kubsat" type weighing from 1 kg to 120 kg on Russian "Soyuz-2" rockets will be able to quickly find out the preliminary cost of launching into orbit using a specially developed calculator on the Glavkosmos Lauch Services website. The calculator for calculating the launch price of the devices allows you to get a price quote for launching the spacecraft within 1 business day, which allows customers to quickly plan missions and receive regular updates in terms of questions of interest. The calculator is a convenient solution, that gives the customer the opportunity to plan launches comfortably and quickly, directly from the operator of the "Soyuz-2" launch vehicle from the Russian cosmodromes - Glavkosmos Launch Services.

In the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center the meeting of the Main Medical Commission ended, which analyzed the data of medical examinations of Alexey Ovchinin - the commander of the main crew of the "Soyuz MS-12" spaceship. According to the results of the meeting of the commission, the cosmonaut of Roscosmos, Alexey Ovchinin, was found fit for the space flight for health reasons. The backup crew commander, Alexander Skvortsov, was recognized as fit for the space flight by the decision of the commission, which met on October 26, 2018.

On January 16, 1969 cosmonauts Boris Volynov (call name "Baikal-1") and Vladimir Shatalov (call name "Amur-1") docked two spacecrafts "Soyuz-5" and "Soyuz-4". For the first time, manual approach and docking of spaceships were carried out, thus, for the first time in the world, an experimental space station was created, the transition through the open space of cosmonauts was carried out.

On January 11, 2019, Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre celebrates 59th anniversary.