01:40Russia: Soyuz MS-04 crew bid farewell to families ahead of ISS mission
Roscosmos cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Jack Fischer spoke to the press and bid farewell to their family members in Zvyozdny Gorodok on Wednesday, ahead of their planned Soyuz MS-04 flight, scheduled for April 20, to the International Space Station (ISS).
This will be Fischer's first spaceflight, but the fifth expedition for Yurchikhin, who advised his American colleague to "smile and be patient."
Fischer told the journalists that "the closer you get to the end, the more real it becomes and the more excited I become."
The flight will form part of Expedition 51/52 to the ISS. Earlier this year, Roscosmos announced it would reduce its crew on each ISS expedition from three to two. This means only five people will participate in Expeditions 51, 52, 53 and 54 as opposed to the normal six.
The launch of the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with the manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-04 is scheduled for April 20 at 10:13 Moscow time (07:13 GMT).
01:40Roscosmos cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Jack Fischer spoke to the press and bid farewell to their family members in Zvyozdny Gorodok on Wednesday, ahead of their planned Soyuz MS-04 flight, scheduled for April 20, to the International Space Station (ISS).
This will be Fischer's first spaceflight, but the fifth expedition for Yurchikhin, who advised his American colleague to "smile and be patient."
Fischer told the journalists that "the closer you get to the end, the more real it becomes and the more excited I become."
The flight will form part of Expedition 51/52 to the ISS. Earlier this year, Roscosmos announced it would reduce its crew on each ISS expedition from three to two. This means only five people will participate in Expeditions 51, 52, 53 and 54 as opposed to the normal six.
The launch of the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with the manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-04 is scheduled for April 20 at 10:13 Moscow time (07:13 GMT).