September 18, 2013

On September 17 Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev with their colleague from NASA astronaut Stephen Swanson made Baikonur sightseeing tour in accordance with longstanding tradition. During the tour the cosmonauts learned more about the city closely related to the history of world-famous spaceport as well as about Kazakhstan national customs and traditions.

First of all Skvortsov, Artemyev and Swanson visited Gagarin monument, where city residents greeted them. Russian cosmonauts and NASA astronaut laid flowers to the monument and paid tribute to the legendary designer S.P. Korolev.

Then the back-up crew visited the Museum of Baikonur spaceport history. Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Stephen Swanson joined in Kazakh traditions by trying on Kazakh national clothes. After the tour the crew left memorable inscriptions in the guestbook and signed some of museum’s exhibits.

Image credit – Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

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