At the Vostochny cosmodrome, the Soyuz 2.1a launch vehicle was installed for the first launch

Three days later, on April 27 at 05:01 Moscow time, the first launch will take place from the new Vostochny cosmodrome in the Amur Region. The Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle will launch Lomonosov, Aist-2D and SamSat-218 spacecraft (SamSat-218) into orbit.

Today, the rocket has been removed from the technical complex, raised to a vertical position and installed in the launch system . To carry out the preparatory work, the mobile service tower was hit on the launch complex (more photos under the cut).

According to the Roscosmos website, the Lomonosov scientific spacecraft was created on the order of Moscow State University. MV Lomonosov in JSC "Corporation" VNIIEM "and is designed to conduct scientific experiments to study transient light phenomena, radiation characteristics of the earth's magnetosphere and basic cosmological research. Transient light phenomena are fast flashes of light in the ultraviolet range in the upper part of the Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of about 100 km. Within milliseconds, energy is released on the order of several megajoules. These phenomena can stretch tens of kilometers and create a potential danger to space rockets. The nature of such phenomena is now the subject of scientific debate. The phenomena themselves are still little studied.
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The Lomonosov spacecraft is equipped with a space telescope for measuring the energy spectrum and chemical composition of cosmic rays of extremely high energies from a near-earth orbit. In addition, onboard the apparatus are installed complexes of instruments for the study of cosmic gamma-ray bursts and the Earth’s near magnetosphere.

The device is scheduled to launch at an altitude of 490 km. The mass of the satellite is 645 kg, scientific equipment - 160 kg. The planned service life is three years.

Aist-2D is a Russian remote sensing satellite with a resolution of up to 1.5 m. The spacecraft was designed and developed jointly by engineers from Progress RCC JSC and Samara State Aerospace University (SSAU).

The SamSat-218 nanosatellite is part of the Kontakt scientific equipment complex created by SSAU scientists and engineers of Progress RCC JSC. The second part of the “Contact” complex will be located on board the small Aist-2D spacecraft. The task of the complex is to work out the control technology of small spacecraft.

Assembly and removal of the rocket from the technical complex

In the remaining three days before the launch of Soyuz-2.1a, verification and testing work is planned with launch vehicle systems and the Volga launch unit.