Soyuz spaceship to carry Olympic torch installed on Baikonur launch pad

Soyuz TMA-11M, which is attached to the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle has been installed on the Baikonur "Gagarin" launch pad, the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) reported.

"Pursuant to the state commission's decision, space industry crews started to transport the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle and the Soyuz TMA-11M manned spaceship from the assembly and test facility of the 112th site of the spaceport at 5 a.m. Moscow time on Tuesday," the Roscosmos website reported.

The launch vehicle was vertically installed on the first "Gagarin" launch pad. Roscosmos crews are fulfilling the first pre-launch day protocol.

Soyuz-FG carrying Soyuz TMA-11M will blast off on November 7. It will deliver the 38/39th crew to the International Space Station (ISS).

Commander Mikhail Tyurin (Roscosmos) and engineers Rick Mastracchio (NASA) and Koichi Wakata (JAXA) are the Soyuz TMA-11M crewmembers.

Their substitutes are commander Maxim Surayev (Roscosmos) and engineers Reid Wiseman (NASA) and Alexander Gerst (ESA).