This morning the integrated launch vehicle Soyuz-2.1а with the manned transportation spacecraft Soyuz MS-21 was rolled out of the launch vehicle integration and test facility and erected on the launch pad of Site 31 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
According to the L-2 day schedule the launch teams began to perform processing operations on mating ILV service lines to the ground equipment to perform stand-alone tests of the spacecraft, launch vehicle and rocket and space complex systems and assemblies.
The launch of Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle carrying Soyuz-MS-21 named after the founder of practical cosmonautics, Academician Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, is planned for March 18, 2022. The free flight program of the spacecraft to deliver the ISS-66/67 Expedition participants to the International Space Station calls for a superfast two-orbit rendezvous capability. The prime crew of Soyuz MS-21 consists of commander Оleg Аrtemiev and flight engineers Denis Мatveev and Sergei Korsakov. Their backups are Sergei Prokopiev, Dmitri Petelin and Anna Kikina.
