The ISS Launch Through A Russian Lens

Leonid Faerberg December 18, 2015
Credit: Leonid Faerberg

The Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship mounted on a rail transportation carriage inside the final assembly hall.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

The Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft transported to the Gagarinsky launchpad at the Baikonur space launch complex in Kazakhstan.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

The Sun rises as the Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship is mounted in a vertical position at the Gagarinsky launchpad.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

Members of the international media meet the crew of the 46/47 space mission flying on the Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship to the ISS, at the Cosmonaut Training Center, Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

The primary and backup crew of the Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship at the press conference at the Cosmonaut Training Center. Left to Right: the U.K.’s Tim Peake, Russia's Yuri Malenchenko and the U.S.'s Tim Kopra of the primary crew. The backup crew includes the U.S.’s Cathleen Rubins, Russia’s Anatoly Ivanishin and Japan’s Takuya Onishi.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

 A Russian Orthodox priest blesses the Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

The European Space Agency's Tim Peak, Roscosmos's Yuri Malenchenko and NASA's Tim Kopra (left to right) leave the Cosmonaut Training Center.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

Roscosmos's Yuri Malenchenko gives his spacesuit a final check.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

NASA's Tim Kopra is about to perform his last spacesuit check before moving to the Baikonur cosmodrome.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

The crew of the 46/47 space mission submits its final report to a government commission before the flight. Left to right: Tim Peake, Yuri Malenchenko and Tim Kopra.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

The Soyuz TMA-19M blasts off from the Gagarinsky launchpad, Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

The Soyuz TMA-19M in the air.

Credit: Leonid Faerberg

The Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft before the first-stage separation.

The Soyuz rocket launch. What looks like a 5-min. news episode on TV is derived from the talents of 1,000—from design project to construction to hundreds of tests and preparations.

This is the latest modification of the spacecraft designated Soyuz TMA-19M. Soyuz—Russian for “union”—once a symbol of the Soviet era. Now, as the only operational workhorse lifting cosmonauts and astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), it has become a different symbol, of cooperation despite politics.