Agat and the Business End

July 12, 2012

We got to go into the Soyuz spacecraft one last time to check it out, to see where our stuff is stowed, and to make sure everything is where we want it. “Agat” is beautiful! I refer to her as Agat since that is Yuri Malenchenko’s call sign.

If you watch the launch on NASA TV you will most likely hear his call sign on the radio. Yuri is Agat 1, I am Agat 2 and Aki (Akihiko Hoshide) is Agat 3. Right now the capsule (and covering) is not mated to the booster and she is standing upright. They will turn her on her side to be moved and mated.

Soyuz TMA-05M - Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

This is “our” booster – the business end! You can see it is on itsside, and is ready for the capsule. The entire stack will stay on itsside and be “rolled out” to the launch pad on Thursday!

Business end -  Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov