01:03Russia: Fresh ISS team prepare for longest mission in two decades
Members of the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 43/44 main and backup crews took part in a goodbye ceremony in Star City on Saturday.
After a traditional photo and question-and-answer session to the journalists, the two teams departed for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for intense final preparations for the launch of the spacecraft Soyuz TMA-16M, which is scheduled for March 27th.
The forthcoming mission is expected to be the longest one for last twenty years as Mikhail Korniyenko and Scott Kelly are going to spend a year of time on the orbit.
The main crew consists of Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka as a crew chief and flight engineer Mikhail Korniyenko as well as NASA's astronaut Scott Kelly. Members of the back-up crew include Alex Ovchinin, Sergei Volkov and Jeffrey Williams.
01:03Members of the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 43/44 main and backup crews took part in a goodbye ceremony in Star City on Saturday.
After a traditional photo and question-and-answer session to the journalists, the two teams departed for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for intense final preparations for the launch of the spacecraft Soyuz TMA-16M, which is scheduled for March 27th.
The forthcoming mission is expected to be the longest one for last twenty years as Mikhail Korniyenko and Scott Kelly are going to spend a year of time on the orbit.
The main crew consists of Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka as a crew chief and flight engineer Mikhail Korniyenko as well as NASA's astronaut Scott Kelly. Members of the back-up crew include Alex Ovchinin, Sergei Volkov and Jeffrey Williams.