16 April: SC and Breeze-M arrival in Baikonur [img]http://www.ilslaunch.com/assets/Images/Media/IndoStar-II-ProtoStar-II-Blog/spring-tulipblog.jpg[/img] [b]Photo:[/b] [i]Tulip[/i] KhSC and Boeing turned Yubileiny Airfield into the busy international airport we always knew it was. The Antonov carrying the SC arrived around 09h20 and the Breeze M and PLA Antonov arrived at 11h00 exactly. SC Antonov flight crew kept busy offloading the containers from the rear of the Antonov. This plane is so big it has a crane inside of it. Sea land containers were secured with the crane, then moved out of the plane and onto a truck. The truck then moved away from the plane and a forklift picked up the containers and slowly drove each of them over to the railcar. At the front of the plane, the crews spent nearly an hour building ramps that would allow the SC container to move down out of the plane and onto the flat platform. Once the SC container was removed from the Antonov and loaded onto the railcar, KhSC and Boeing worked to test and connect the thermal car to the container. All the talk about spring in Kazakhstan, and finally we see a tulip! (We called the SC container and thermal car the “tulip” (yellow flower and green stem) because it looked like a tulip) After a long day of offloading, the teams were able to enjoy a nice break and take the time to share mission pins and stickers with the local people. It is a tradition to put the sticker of your mission on the buses and vans, and pass as many items out to the locals as you can. The train arrived at 92A50 around 21h30, after leaving the airport at 16h30. Offloading operations kept the group busy until around 01h00 on Friday morning. On 17 April the Boeing team will open the SC container and inspect the IndoStar II / ProtoStar II SC. Then KhSC, RUAG and Boeing will prepare for the fitcheck that will happen later in the afternoon.