In accordance with the decision of the State Commission, this morning, December 15, 2020, the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with the Fregat upper stage and 36 British OneWeb spacecraft on board was taken from the technical facility to the launch complex of the Vostochny cosmodrome and installed in the launch system. Autonomous tests of the systems of the launch vehicle, upper stage and spacecraft, as well as general tests are planned according to the schedule.
To carry out further pre-launch work, a mobile service tower was run over to the launch pad. MBO is the tallest structure of the Vostochny cosmodrome at the moment: its height is 52 meters, and its weight reaches 1,600 tons. It is intended for prelaunch preparation of space rockets of the Soyuz-2 family. The mobile tower moves along the starting structure along two track tracks on four bogies.
The procedure for the removal of the launch vehicle was observed by representatives of the management of the State Corporation Roscosmos and its subsidiary Glavkosmos, as well as authorized representatives of foreign companies: Arianespace, Starsem and OneWeb.
On Friday, December 18, 2020, a meeting of the State Commission will take place, following which decisions will be made on refueling the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with propellant components and launching it. The launch of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage and a batch of 36 spacecraft from the British company OneWeb is scheduled for December 18, 2020.