Several months ago Roscosmos announced its intention to develop touristic programs in Baikonur. Now this branch of tourism is controlled directly by Roscosmos, the Agency has held tender so that only authorized tour operators could provide tours to Baikonur spaceport.

Yesterday, on December 2, 2015, Baikonur say traditional flag-raising ceremony taking place at #17 launchpad in front of “Cosmonaut” hotel.

ISS-46/47 mission prime and back-up crews started passing final prelaunch trainings at Baikonur spaceport. The prime crew includes Roscosmos cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra and ESA astronaut Timothy Peake, the back-up crew comprises Roscosmos cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi and NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins.

Today GCTC officially saw off ISS-46/47 prime (Yuri Malenchenko, Roscosmos, Timothy Kopra, NASA, and Timothy Peake, ESA) and back-up (Anatoly Ivanishin, Roscosmos, Takuya Onishi, JAXA, and Kathleen Rubins, NASA) crews to Baikonur where they will pass final preparation trainings before the upcoming spaceflight.

According to the ISS flight schedule station orbit was adjusted on November 25, 2015, to provide for future short 4-orbit docking of Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft planned for December 15, 2015.

New ISS mission back-up crew commander Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin says he feels very responsible since his crew will be the first one to go to space onboard new Soyuz MS.

New ISS crew period of work onboard the station was increased from 6 to 7 months due to the flight program adjustment, - crew commander Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko said.

Interdepartmental Commission approved main and back-up crews of new ISS mission. The launch of Soyuz TMA-19M is scheduled for December 15 and will take place from Baikonur spaceport, - GCTC spokesman stated.

On Friday, November 20, GCTC specialists summed up the results of ISS-46/47 main and back-up crews exams.

ISS Flight schedule of russian spacecrafts was changed since the first launch of Progress MS new generation cargo vehicle was shifted from November to December.