Russia's Soyuz Rocket on Launch Pad for ISS Mission

BAIKONUR, September 23 (RIA Novosti) – The Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft was rolled out to its launch pad on Monday ahead of the planned manned mission to the International Space Station.

A spokesman for Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said the rollout took place in normal regime.

The rocket is to blast off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan early on September 26 to take new ISS crew members to the orbital station.

The main crew comprises Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky and NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins, while the backup crew are Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of Russia and NASA astronaut Steven Swanson.

The names of the three new crew members will be officially announced on Tuesday.

The current ISS crew comprises Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, and astronauts Karen Nyberg of NASA and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency.