The state corporation Roscosmos, according to RIA Novosti, spoke about the flight program of the Soyuz MS-16 manned spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).
The said device was delivered to the Baikonur Cosmodrome for pre-flight training in November last year. The ship will deliver participants of the 63rd and 64th long-term expeditions to the orbital station. The core team includes Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Tikhonov and Andrei Babkin, as well as NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy.
Earlier it was said that the Soyuz MS-16 could become the first manned vehicle that will go to the ISS using an ultra-fast scheme, providing for a three-hour flight. Until now, such a scheme has only been used during the launch of several Progress cargo ships.
And now it is reported that the ultra-fast flight program will not be used during the launch of the Soyuz MS-16. Instead, the ship will go into orbit on a well-established six-hour pattern.
It is important to note that for the first time a spacecraft with a crew will be sent to the ISS using the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle, which consists entirely of Russian components. Previously, the Soyuz-FG rocket with a Ukrainian control system was used.
The launch of the ship is tentatively scheduled for April 9.
Source: 3dnews.ru