MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. A Soyuz-2.1a carrier with a Soyuz MS-21 manned spacecraft named in honor of Sergey Korolev has been installed on the launch pad at Site 31 (Vostok) at the Baikonur spaceport, according to a broadcast on the Russian state space agency Roscosmos’ website.

Experts will now retract mobile service towers and then work will begin in accordance with the schedule for the first launch day. The launch is planned for 6:55 pm Moscow time on March 18.

According to the plan, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, who will be the second TASS correspondent in space, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov will travel to the International Space Station on the Soyuz spacecraft. The backup crew consists of Sergey Prokopyev, Anna Kikina and Dmitry Petelin.

The two-circle flight will last about three hours. The launch will be named after the Bauman University because the institution’s three graduates - Artemyev, Matveyev and Kosarkov - will be aboard the spacecraft. The third stage of the carrier rocket will bear the university’s emblem.