Today, on July 4, 2019, in the GCTC took place the farewell ceremony of of the main and backup crews of the ISS-60/61 , departing to the Baikonur cosmodrome to continue the pre-flight preparation. After the press-talk with media, the bus with the crews went to the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow, from where they flew to Kazakhstan by two special airplanes to complete the final stage of the pre-launch preparation.

On June 28, 2019, after the meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission and the pre-flight press conference, the main crew (Alexander Skvortsov, Luca Parmitano and Andrew Morgan) and the back-up crew (Sergey Ryzhikov, Thomas Marshburn and Soichi Noguchi) of the ISS-60/61 visited memorable places, associated with the history of the cosmonautics. The cosmonauts and astronauts laid flowers and paid tribute to the chief designer of the spacecrafts Sergey Korolev, the discoverer of the space Yuri Gagarin and other cosmonauts, buried in the necropolis near the Kremlin wall.

Today, on June 28, 2019, a meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission was held at the GCTC, which summarized the readiness for the space flight of the main and backup crews of the ISS-60/61. According to the commission, the crews of the 60 / 61st long expedition to the International Space Station are ready for the flight on the "Soyuz MS-13" spacecraft and the Russian segment of the ISS and recommended to begin preparations at the Baikonur cosmodrome. The launch of the "Soyuz MS-13" spacecraft is scheduled for July 20, 2019.

On June 27, 2019, in the GCTC the complex examination and training sessions of the main and backup crews of the 60/61long expedition to the ISS were completed. On June 28 at the GCTC will be a meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission, which will evaluate the results of complex examinations and will decide on the further steps of the crew preparation for space flight. Crews departure to Baikonur is scheduled for July 4th.

This week, the “Typical Flying Day” training was performed by the main and backup crews (main crew - Roskosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan; backup crew - Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov, NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi) . On June 21, “Typical Flight Day” training was successfully passed by the main crew of the ISS-60/61, and on June 19 - their backups.

After passing the theoretical examinations, the ISS-60/61 crews began practical tests on simulators. Today, the commanders of the main and backup crews of the "Soyuz MS-13" sapcecraft Alexander Skvortsov and Sergey Ryzhikov passed the examination exercises on the specialized "Teleoperator" simulator for testing the teleoperative control of the "Progress MS" cargo spaceship. The commanders of the main and backup crews of "Soyuz MS-13" spacecraft brilliantly passed the task, having received excellent marks on the exam. The Commission, chaired by Valery Korzun, Head of the 1st Department of the GCTC, Hero of the Russian Federation, Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation, noted the clarity of reporting and determining the relative motion parameters of "Progress MS" spacecraft and the ISS, as well as confident and competent actions of operators.

Alexander Skvortsov and Sergey Ryzhikov, cosmonauts of the main and backup crews of the ISS-60/61, successfully performed a test training at the specialized "Exit-2" simulator. According to the results of the training on the specialized "Exit-2" simulator, Alexander Skvortsov and Sergey Ryzhikov were allowed to work independently in the "Orlan-ISS" spacesuits, as well as to perform locking in the ISS in accordance with the " ISS - 60/61Technical Training Requirements".

The ceremony of presenting of State awards of the Russian Federation took place on May 23 in the Catherine Hall of the Kremlin. The govermental awards were presented for Russian cosmonauts Fedor Yurchikhin (who made five expeditions to the ISS and nine spacewalks), Andrey Borisenko and Oleg Novitsky (who performed two space flights each).

Spacewalk is dangerous and hard job. The necessary skills are helped to form a training on the specialized "Exit-2" simulator, where cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov (backup of Alexander Skvortsov) successfully completed the test session this week. Sergey Ryzhikov’s readiness to work in open space was checked by GCTC specialists and representatives of RSC "Energia". During the test training, Sergey Ryzhikov showed a good level of theoretical knowledge and practical skills for performing typical operations in open space.

On April 19 the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center was visited by the delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, headed by Dr. Salah Khalid K. Al-Taleb, Director of the Space Strategy Department of the Saudi Space Committee. For the delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a tour of the simulator base of the Center was organized, during which they familiarized themselves with the features of cosmonaut training for space flight. For the guests were shown specialized simulators of the "Soyuz" spacecraft, the Russian segment of the International Space Station, the "Exit-2" simulator and the CF-18 centrifuge. In addition, representatives of the delegation studied the reconfigurable simulator of airplanes and helicopters and the model of the "MIR" space station at the Space Center.