On May 29, 2018, as part of the prelaunch training program, the crews of “Soyuz MS-09” spacecraft conducted open training sessions attended by representatives of the media. Cosmonauts and astronauts of the main and backup crews Sergei Prokopiev, Oleg Kononenko, Alexander Gerst, Serena Aunon-Chancellor, Anne Macclein and David Saint-Jacques held training sessions at the multi-purpose stand for manual approach of the” Soyuz MS” spacecraft, training on the on-board documentation of the spacecraft , got training of the factors of space flight on special simulators and sports training.

On May 25 the delegation of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency led by JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa visited the Cosmonaut Training Center. Within the framework of the meeting with the head of GCTC, Hero of the Russian Federation, the honored test pilot of the Russian Federation Pavel Vlasov, further cooperation in the training of cosmonauts and astronauts in the crews was discussed. Hiroshi Yamakawa and Pavel Vlasov noted the need for full-fledged cooperation in the implementation of such a grandiose international project as the ISS.

Russian President Vladimir Putin invited former deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin to head the state corporation ”Roskosmos”. Putin's meeting with Rogozin took place in the fields of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2018). "We have repeatedly and for a long time discussed the development of “Roskosmos”. It is not necessary to say how important it is for the economy, for many other areas, including the sphere of security " - said the President of the Russian Federation.

Specialists of RSC “Energia” at the Baikonur cosmodrome successfully completed the operations for refueling the transport manned spacecraft “ Soyuz MS-09” with fuel components and compressed gases.

On May 21, 2018, on the territory of the test training complex (17th site) of the Baikonur complex, at the flag-raising ceremony of the countries, participating in the launch of the Soyuz MS-09 transport manned spacecraft, the final phase of preflight preparation of crews was officially launched .

Since the beginning of our space era, cosmonauts have formed many wonderful traditions, that provide a connection between times and generations. Among them - a visit of a Museum of the Cosmonaut Training Center named after Yuri Gagarin and Red Square before departure at the Baikonur cosmodrome.

On February 5, 2018, NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Christina Koch and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi were introduced to GCTC authorities and specialists and started training in GCTC on Soyuz MS simulator and Russian ISS segment simulator to be second flight engineers in the future space missions.

Baikonur launchsite saw traditional flag-raising ceremony taking place at the pad #17 in front of Cosmonaut hotel.

Baikonur saw official flag-raising ceremony. Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko raised the flag of Russia, Alexander Misurkin and Nickolay Tikhonov – the flag of Kazakhstan, NASA astronauts Robert Shane Kimbrough and Mark Vande Hei – the flag of USA.

On Wednesday, August 24, prime crew of Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft comprising crew commander Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos) and flight engineers Andrei Borisenko (Roscosmos) and Robert Shane Kimbrough (NASA) passed typical flight day training in GCTC.