Mantis
Member
I was just wondering what those panels attached to the fairing of the manned Soyuz rockets are. There appears to be four of them and they are square shaped. I did notice that the unmanned Soyuz launchers lack these panels. My guess is that they have something to do with the launch gantry - maybe they extend as platforms for people to stand on while boarding/working on the spacecraft. Can anyone clarify that for me?