At the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the preflight processing of Soyuz MS-18 crewed spacecraft is in good progress. Today according to the work schedule specialists from RSC Energia and SC Yuzhny (a branch of TsENKI, part of Roscosmos) completed leak tests of the spacecraft in the vacuum chamber of the integration and test facility at Site No. 254.
A cycle of pneumatic vacuum tests of large space hardware using a helium-air medium in test volumes is conducted for the objective monitoring of stringent requirements for pressurization integrity of the spacecraft compartments and onboard systems under ground conditions.
The launch of the Soyuz 2.1а rocket carrying Soyuz MS-18 is scheduled for April 9, 2021 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.