Published on March 27, 2017
At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft was mated to its booster rocket August 30, and moved to the launch pad on a railcar August 31 for final preparations before launch to the International Space Station on Sept. 2, Kazakh time. The Soyuz TMA-18M will carry Soyuz Commander Sergei Volkov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), European Space Agency (ESA) Flight Engineer Andreas Mogensen and Kazakh Space Agency (Kazcosmos) Flight Engineer Aidyn Aimbetov to the orbital complex. Volkov will spend six months on the station while Mogensen and Aimbetov will be on board the station for just eight days.
