OREANDA-NEWS. July 7, 2009. Progress M-67 prelaunch processing continues at Baikonur. Specialists of the Russian space industry prepare propulsion system of the vehicle for further propellant loading operation. In addition, Rodnik system is filled with water today.

In the integration and test facility, site 112, prelaunch activites with the Soyuz-U launcher which is to orbit cargo supply vehicle, are ongoing. Pneumatic tests of the first stage began this morning.
Soyuz-U is to launch Progress M-67 on July 24, at 14:56 Moscow time. The Progress is to deliver 2.5t of cargo to the International Space Station, including propellant, space and scientific hardware, water and gas supplies, NASA cargo.

Soyuz-U is a middle-class rocket which can inject up to 7t to LEO. The rocket is built by Samara`s TSKB-Progress. It is a `grand-daughter` of famous Korolev`s R-7, so it is featured by R-7`s high reliability. Operational reliability of Soyuz-U is 0,983. Totally, there have been 1700 launches of R-7 and its derivatives.