The gantry arms begin to close around the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft to secure the rocket at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome March 23, 2014 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for March 26 and will send Expedition 39 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian Federal Space Agency, astronaut Steven Swanson of NASA, cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos on a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

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The gantry arms begin to close around the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft to secure the rocket at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome March 23, 2014 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for March 26 and will send Expedition 39 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian Federal Space Agency, astronaut Steven Swanson of NASA, cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos on a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

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Size: 3428px × 5150px
Location: Baikonur, Kazakhstan
Photo credit: © NASA Photo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: day, gantry, iss, kazakhstan, nasa, outdoors, pre-launch, preflight, prelaunch, rocket, rocketship, rollout, roscosmos, russia, soyuz, space, spacecraft, tma-12m, train, vertical