Soyuz and Baikonur's Launch Pad

Soyus FG Rocket now that's a Hot Rod!

A Soyuz-FG rocket carrying the Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft was rolled to the launch pad in Baikonur early morning on March 16th, 2016 ahead of the planned launch on March 18th. The launch will blast Expedition 48 crew members into orbit for a docking to the International Space Station on March 19th.

Soyuz TMA-20M Commander and Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin, fellow Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams are the crew which who join Expedition 47 crew members already on-board the station.

Back in the day; Vostok 1, the first manned spacecraft in human history, and before it, Sputnik 1, the world's first orbital spaceflight of any sort, were launched from one of Baikonur's launch pads, which is now known as Gagarin's Start, named after Yuri Gagarin.

A new science, 'The Balance' we're in this together which brings more value and we're proving it!  The Soyuz FG Rocket is a Hot Rod and in the opener of this vid, you'll see the assembly of the Launch Escape Tower.

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Baikonur's Launch Pads

Soyuz FG – Launch Vehicle

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Russian Rocket Carrier Train Engine

The Launch for Expedition 48 Crew is scheduled for March 18, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. ET

New Crew Launches 

Expedition 47-48 Soyuz Commander Alexey Ovchinin and Flight Engineers Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos and Jeff Williams of NASA launched on the Russian Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft on March 19, Kazakh time, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a six-hour journey to the International Space Station,docking @ 11:09 PM ET and the start of a six-month mission on the ISS. 

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Expedition 47- 48 Crew Docks 

Expedition 47-48 Soyuz Commander Alexey Ovchinin and Flight Engineers Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos and Jeff Williams of NASA arrived at the International Space Station on Mar. 19. The new crewmembers will join station Commander Tim Kopra of NASA and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko of Roscosmos and Tim Peake of the European Space Agency, already onboard the station. 

NASA