All systems go: Russian "Soyuz MS-25" spacecraft completes flight preparations

The final stage of preparations for the flight of the manned spacecraft "Soyuz MS-25" has been completed at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Its launch with an international crew is scheduled for March 21.

The spacecraft underwent an author's inspection in the assembly and testing facility at Site 254. Roscosmos specialists carried out final checks, placed the main part of the cargo, and completed technological operations to roll on the head fairing and prepare the assembly and protection unit for launch readiness control.

According to the Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, cosmonauts and astronauts are also tirelessly preparing for the flight. Crew commanders regularly practice manual docking skills to the station.

In addition, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Ivan Wagner, Belarusian cosmonauts Marina Vasilevskaya and Anastasia Lenkova, and NASA astronauts Tracy Dyson and Donald Pettit attend daily classes on maintaining the onboard documentation of the Soyuz MS-25 manned transport spacecraft and the Russian segment of the ISS.

The ISS orbit has already been corrected for the arrival of the new crew. According to Roscosmos, the engines of the Progress MS-26 were activated on March 14 at 16:11 Moscow time, operated for 1096.7 seconds, and issued an impulse of 1.59 m/s. The average altitude of the ISS orbit increased by 2.8 km and amounted to 419.53 km above the Earth's surface.

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