Photos: Soyuz Rocket Takes Shape for Progress MS-08 Launch

Integration of a Soyuz 2-1A rocket was finished at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, February 8, 2018 in preparation for an early morning rollout on Friday to set the stage for the launch of the Progress MS-08 cargo vehicle headed to the International Space Station via a two-orbit rendezvous to deliver two and a half metric tons of food, fuel and supplies to the orbiting complex as the first of three planned Progress missions in 2018.

Progress MS-08 concluded its pre-flight processing campaign with encapsulation in its protective launch shroud at Site 254 and was shipped to the MIK-112 launcher integration facility where it was installed on the Block I third stage of the Soyuz 2-1A launcher. The upper stage was then attached to the rocket’s core stage which had its four boosters installed earlier in the processing flow.

All Photos: Roscosmos/RSC Energia