Transportation Damage
The Soyuz spacecraft suffered damage to its container during transport to the Baikonur Cosmodrome on October 5, 2010, according to the Interfax news agency. Engineers spotted the damage after the spacecraft was shipped by rail from Russia to Kazakhstan. After initial inspections of the damage, Russian sources said that it was not immediately clear whether the spacecraft would have to be returned to the RKK Energia factory in Moscow. Later, Russian officials replaced the damaged descent module with a new one, flown to Baikonur aboard a cargo plane. The replacement module was originally part of the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft.
Despite the transportation damage, RKK Energia president Vitaly Lopota told news media that the mission would take place in December as planned. Roscosmos spokesman Alexander Vorobyov also told Interfax that the December launch date would not be affected, because a reserve spacecraft would be available at Baikonur for the mission, if required.
Read more about this topic: Soyuz TMA-20
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