EUROCKOT’s MOM Daily No. 16

Cosmodrome Plesetsk, June 23 (L-7):

The launch campaign slowly comes to its end. Today we had to say goodbye to
the upper stage and the spacecraft in the MIK as the roll-out of the Upper
Composite to the pad and the lifting operations into the seventh level of
the service tower were performed today. Everything went extremely smooth and
fully compliant with the schedule.

On the first picture (Fig. 1) you can see the Upper Composite on its railcar
close to the air-conditioning railcar providing air with the correct
temperature, humidity and cleanliness during the complete ride to the pad.
(Fig. 2) shows the train coming out of the Eurockot integration and office
facility (MIK).

After arrival of the train at the pad, the Upper Composite is brought on
rails directly into the service tower, from where it is lifted by a crane.
As this is certainly a hazardous operation because of the fuelled upper
stage, everybody is provided with personal protection equipment, see below.

During the next days the launch vehicle (LV) integration has to be completed
with mechanical, electrical and fluid connection mating, as well as thorough
check-outs before the LV can be fuelled.