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Crew prepares for space station mission
Source: Agencies |
December 18, 2012, Tuesday
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A Soyuz spacecraft atop a towering rocket was placed into launch position yesterday at Russia's manned-space facility in Kazakhstan ahead of a five-month mission for three astronauts to the International Space Station.
The craft was rolled out of its hangar on a flatbed train and crawled for two hours at a walking pace to the launch pad. Colleagues, friends and relatives of the astronauts withstood temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius to watch the procedure.
NASA's Tom Marshburn, Russian Roman Romanenko, and the Canadian Space Agency's Chris Hadfield will blast off tomorrow and travel for two days before reaching three other astronauts working at the orbiting laboratory.
Officials said the glacial conditions have little effect on the Soyuz.
There are very few weather requirements or restrictions for the launch of the Soyuz vehicle," veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fossum said. "We launch a couple of days from now in similar conditions and we are without any concerns."
The current Soyuz craft is a variation on the vehicle that has been in constant use by the Soviet and then Russian manned space programs since 1967.
The three-man crew toured the hangar where the craft was being kept on Sunday.
The craft was rolled out of its hangar on a flatbed train and crawled for two hours at a walking pace to the launch pad. Colleagues, friends and relatives of the astronauts withstood temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius to watch the procedure.
NASA's Tom Marshburn, Russian Roman Romanenko, and the Canadian Space Agency's Chris Hadfield will blast off tomorrow and travel for two days before reaching three other astronauts working at the orbiting laboratory.
Officials said the glacial conditions have little effect on the Soyuz.
There are very few weather requirements or restrictions for the launch of the Soyuz vehicle," veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fossum said. "We launch a couple of days from now in similar conditions and we are without any concerns."
The current Soyuz craft is a variation on the vehicle that has been in constant use by the Soviet and then Russian manned space programs since 1967.
The three-man crew toured the hangar where the craft was being kept on Sunday.
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