4 From inside, the Antonov looks more to a cargo ship than to a plane. The main part consists of a huge cargo bay equipped with overhead traveling cranes. The containers are secured by heavy chains between which we had to sneak with our luggage. The separated flight crew and handling crew cabins are located above the cargo bay.
5 The container of the MetOp PLM (Satellite upper part - Payload module).
6 The cabin of the cargo handling crew is located on rear top of the cargo bay. It is reachable via a long ladder. The cockpit is located in the front (luckily !), also accessible via a long ladder. The is no communication between the two cabins that are separated by the wing.
7 The handling crew cabin. These are the living quarters of the cargo handling crew with their kitchen and bunks. We were just tolerated. Since there is no window and we were getting no information, it was difficult to know when the plane was taking off or landing. This is particularly impressive during the fixed point before take-off. The resounding noise from the engines and the shaking gives the impression that the plane was taking off. After a few minutes, it became evident that it had not moved. This did not affect the crew that continued to walk around as usual. We were not asked to fasten seat belts. But that was all right since we were under the protection of a patron saint (see the icon above the map)!
8 The kitchen remained as is during takeoff and landing,
9 After a stopover in Moscow for three hours for customs clearance we arrive in Baikonur Yubileyny airfield. This track located north of the cosmodrome was built specially for the Russian shuttle "Buran". It is 4500 m long and 84 m wide!
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11 Impressing !
12 Here I am !
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14 At the rear, the train is waiting for the containers.
15 Opening the back door where the PLM will be disembarked (PLM = MetOp upper module supporting the instruments).
16 The PLM container
17 Opening the front door from where the SVM will be disembarked (SVM = the lower part of the satellite).
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19 The SVM contianer
20 It is done. The PLM container is on the truck before being transferred onto the train.
