In two weeks Roscosmos is to take a decision who will replace British singer in Soyuz spacecraft flying to the ISS, - GCTC Head Yuri Lonchakov said on Monday.

Sarah Brightman’s refusal to go the International Space Station in September 2015 won’t affect the dates of the launch, - Spokesman for space industry reported on May 13. “That won’t affect Soyuz launch. It was planned for September 1 and it is still being planned for September 1”, - the spokesman stated.

British singer Sarah Brightman announced that she is unable to perform a spacefight planned for family reasons (as stated in the message at her official webpage). "Sarah Brightman stated today that she postpones her participation in the upcoming space mission onboard Soyuz TMA-18M. Brightman stated that she has to change her intentions for family reasons and postpones her training and participation in the flight for today".

The launch of Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft initially scheduled for May 26 will be shifted to mid-July, - the spokesman for space industry reported.

On May 6, 2015 of 44/45 mission main and back-up crew started passing complex examinational trainings in GCTC.

On March 14 ISS-42/44 mission main (Gennady Padalka, Roscosmos; Mikhail Korniyenko, Roscosmos; Scott Kelly, NASA) and back-up (Alexey Ovchinin, Roscosmos; Sergey Volkov, Roscosmos; Jeffrey Williams, NASA) crews left for Baikonur from Chkalovsky airfield onboard special charters. In several hours the aircrafts successfully landed at Krainiy airfield not far from Baikonur where the cosmonauts will pass their final preparation trainings before the flight.

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka expects to set up a new record spending 1000 days on the orbit, as he told the journalists at press-conference taking place in Star City on Friday.

Today the Head of Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre Yuri Lonchakov celebrates his 50th Birthday. Yuri Lonchakov devoted many years of his life to space exploration. His efforts, courage, sense of purpose and love for his motherland helped him to become the cosmonaut and succeed in this profession.

Last week main and back-up crews of ISS-43/44 mission started passing exams. The main crew comprises Roscosmos cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Korniyenko and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, the back-up crew – Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Geffrey Williams.

From January 19 up to February 9, 2015 GCTC is conducting winter survival trainings for future ISS mission crews.