Soyuz blast-off preparation in full swing

The Historic "Soyuz" flight crew is ready for the final countdown as crew members took final pre-flight questions and spoke about keeping traditions alive.

"Basically, the whole time we've been hear we have been falling all the traditions of Yury Gagarin before his flight," said Cosmonaut Roman Romanenko.

On Monday a Soyuz spaceship and its carrier rocket were installed on the launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome. Despite a delay due to strong winds, the installation was completed at 4.30 p.m Moscow time.

“The delay of the installation because of meteorological conditions should not affect the time of the launch, which is still set for 2.34 p.m Moscow time, May 27,” the spokesperson for Roskosmos was quoted by RIA news agency as saying.

Watch a report on Soyuz launch preparations at Baikonur cosmodrome.

The flight of the Soyuz, already called historic, will take three astronauts from Russia, Belgium and Canada to the International Space Station. That will bring the number of crew there to a record six, which makes presence of space tourists at the station unlikely.

"It appears at least for this time all the seats will be accounted for by professional cosmonauts and astronauts flying to the station," said NASA spokesperson Rob Navias.

On this mission the Soyuz spacecraft will take Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, as well as Frank De Winne and Robert Thirsk, astronauts from Belgium and Canada respectively, to the ISS.

Each of the cosmonauts is expected to spend about six months in space.

This, the 20th expedition, will have more than 45 tasks to carry out in space, including research in physics, geophysics, and medical science.