Space vehicles that will be launched to space in two weeks arrived at Baikonur

On Friday night, space vehicles scheduled to be launched in space in the nearest future were delivered on board a special flight to the State Space-Vehicle Launching Site Baikonur. The vehicles will be launched by a modified version of SS-18 "Satana" carrier rocket -- RS-20, which now has characteristics similar to carrier rocket "Dnieper-1".

According to the Russian Space Command press service, space vehicles "UniSat-2" (Italy), "SaudiSat-U" (Saudi Arabia), "Rubin-2" (Germany), "LatinSat-A" and "LatinSat-B" (USA) arrived at Baikonur already prepared for launch, being placed on a special platform that will be fitted in to the head compartment of the rocket.

On Saturday, a mock-up copy of the Russian space vehicle designed to practice the procedures related to the launch of bulky loads will be also delivered to the site.

The carrier rocket RS-20 is already in the silo, and the head compartment will be attached to the main body after it has been fitted with a head streamlined housing.

During the launch on December 20, all space vehicles must be launched to orbit 650 km high and with 65 degrees inclination.