L-5 Days 14 Hours and Counting!

COUNTDOWN

Now that you have seen the rocket you must ask yourself how does all that work.  For every rocket there is a rocket launch pad.

A view from somewhere on the way up.

The Proton rocket is about 58 m high and without fuel about 55 tons including the ExoMars spacecraft fully fueled.  When the rocket is transported to the launch pad it is horizontal and is then turned to the vertical and installed with the help of specially designed equipment and a launch tower is wrapped around it for easy access.

Deep inside the launch pad the electrical connections that control the rocket and the spacecraft are connected to equipment used to decipher the electrical signals and send them to the engineering teams.

Checking out the electrical connections on the launch pad prior to rocket arrival

The launch tower without a rocket installed

 

Mikhail and Boris perched on the launch tower

 

Everything out at the launch pad is ready now and so we wait the final rocket preparations to be completed and the rocket to be transported to its launch site.

 

Meanwhile the launch countdown is being practiced in Baikonur and in Germany at the operations center.

COUNTDOWN