It's L-3 days. The big Soyuz launcher, that lofted Catherine Coleman, Dimitri Kondratyev and Paolo Nespoli to space on 15 December 2010, was transported to the launch pad on Monday 13 in Baikonur. According to tradition, the launcher was rolled out at 7:00 in morning and after that it was transported along the railway to the launch pad about five kilometres away. The pad is the same used to launch Yuri Gagarin to space almost 50 years ago.
Paolo Nespoli, ESA's Italian astronaut, will serve as flight engineer on the International Space Station (ISS) for Expeditions 26 and 27.
Paolo’s MagISStra mission is Europe’s third long-duration mission on the ISS.