CryoSat-2 team has reached Baikonur

The Cryosat-2 (CS-2) convoy and team left IABG in Munich on 12/01/2010 at 9:00
IABG is the place where the spacecraft has been tested and then stored.

The convoy was made of 6 shipping containers (spacecraft and all the support equipment) carried on 3 large trucks. The total mass was approximately 36 tons.

After loading the payload on the cargo plane, and a last minute de-icing of the plane, the Antonov left Munich airport at 19:00 (local time) and headed to Yulianovsk (a 625.000 inhabitant city on the Volga river), where the payload and the crew were cleared by Russian customs.

The plane took off from Yulianovsk at 04:15 am on 13/01/2010 Munich time (07:15 am local time) and landed on the Baikonur cosmodrome airport (Yubilenyi) after a roughly 2 hours trip at 06:30 am Munich time ( 11:30 am local time).

The story was not over for the day. After the unloading of the Spacecraft, the convoy needed to reach the MIK (Montazhnyi Integratsyi Komplekc) where activities such as final integration and tests will take place. Due to bumpy roads of the cosmodrome, only a very slow speed of the convoy could prevent dangerous shocks for the Spacecraft. 3 hours were needed to complete this ca 15 kilometer trip. The 6 containers were then immediately unloaded in a dedicated area of building 31.

All theses activities were completed at 21:00h local time.

A long day for the all team and particularly for those who travelled with the Antonov who had few sleeping hours only the last night. But sure, we all remember this extraordinary experience!


More details on the Munich departure:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM1UZLJ74G_index_0.html

Here is a 360 view of the landscape at the landing place:




Few other pictures of the Antonov:

Front view:

Cargo bay (almost empty)

Loading of the containers in the Antonov


Passenger cabin (located between the wings and the rudder on the upper part of the fuselage. Note that there are no windows next to the seats. Temperature during flight was was most of the time equatorial!

Kitchen

Cargo in flight