First Stage of the Soyuz TMA-05M Vehicle

JSC2012-E-101422 (11 July 2012) --- The first stage of the Soyuz TMA-05M vehicle --- known as the “business end” --- is shown at the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan July 11, 2012 awaiting mating to the spacecraft’s upper stages as preparations continued for the scheduled launch July 15 (Kazakhstan time) of Expedition 32 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko, NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams and Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov