Space giant on the move: Russia prepares to launch mighty Soyuz into space ahead of 50th anniversary of Gagarin's first manned flight - 2nd Apr 2011

Russia is making its final preparations for the launch of its Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station ahead of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first manned journey into space.

The TMA-21 rocket is being moved into position at the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan before the scheduled blast off date on Tuesday.

The craft will have an international crew of US astronaut Ron Garan, and Russian cosmonauts Aleksander Samokutyaev and Andrei Borisenko.

The launch was originally delayed from March 30 so experts could resolve a communication problem with the Soyuz, raising fears over its reliability and whether the mission would begin in time to honour the April 12 anniversary of cosmonaut Gagarin's first manned flight into space.

The Soyuz TMA-21 is named after Gagarin, who went on to become Deputy Training Director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow.

However he died tragically in 1968 when his training jet crashed, with the actual circumstances of his death remaining a mystery. Read More