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Space station crew's ride rolls to launch pad
BY SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: December 13, 2010


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Rolling out to Gagarin's launch pad on a bitterly cold December morning, the next Soyuz rocket now stands poised for Wednesday's blastoff carrying Russian, American and Italian crewmates on their journey to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-20 capsule and its three-stage booster traveled by rail from the final assembly building to the Baikonur Cosmodrome pad at dawn today.

NASA's Cady Coleman, Russia's Dmitry Kondratyev and the European Space Agency's Paolo Nespoli will ride the rocket into orbit Wednesday, launching at 2:09 p.m. EST (1909 GMT). They are headed for a Friday arrival at the space station with docking around 3:12 p.m. EST (2012 GMT).

This collection of photos shows the capsule being readied for flight, placed within the protective aerodynamic nose cone, hauled to the rocket processing hangar and mated to the Soyuz launcher. The completed vehicle then rolls to the pad.

Photo credit: Energia




























Photo credit: Energia
 

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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH CADY COLEMAN PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH PAOLO NESPOLI PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH DMITRY KONDRATYEV PLAY

VIDEO: SOYUZ ROCKET ROLLED TO THE LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: POST-ROLLOUT COMMENTS FROM NASA VIPS PLAY
VIDEO: WEEKEND BEFORE LAUNCH OF EXPEDITION 26 PLAY
VIDEO: HIGHLIGHTS OF CREW'S ACTIVITIES AT BAIKONUR PLAY
VIDEO: CREW'S DEPARTURE FROM STAR CITY TRAINING BASE PLAY
VIDEO: PRIME AND BACKUP CREWS MEET WITH REPORTERS PLAY
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