During its first-ever final countdown in French Guiana, the initial fully-assembled Soyuz was unveiled today during ongoing dry run evaluations at the Spaceport.
This workhorse Russian vehicle was revealed as the purpose-built, 52-meter-tall service gantry made a maiden roll-back having protected the Soyuz during final integration and checkout activities on the launch pad that began last Friday.
The roll-back was part of Soyuz simulated countdown, performed by a European/Russian team, to three minutes before liftoff when it purposely was stopped, allowing procedures to be confirmed in the scenario of a launch-day hold. The chronology will resume tomorrow, May 5, and is to continue through a simulated liftoff, downrange flight and payload deployment.