On May 19, 2013 according to longstanding “space” tradition 36/37 ISS mission back-up crew made up of Mikhail Tyurin (Roscosmos), Rick Mastracchio (NASA) and Koichi Wakata (JAXA) had a sightseeing tour through Baikonur city.
The cosmonauts laid flowers to the monuments to the Earth first ever cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and outstanding Soviet scientist and designer Sergey Korolev. Baikonur citizens greeted the crew.
Then the crew visited the museum of cosmonautics where saw the unique collection of exhibits with lunar globe, Gagarin’s personal belongings, Earth first satellite and many others among them.
Mikhail Tyurin, Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata also became familiar with national traditions of Kazakhstan by trying on Kazakh national dresses. After excursions the crew wrote memorable inscriptions in the guestbook and signed some of the museum exhibits.
Image credit – Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
