Rocket and Space Corporation “Energia” and Space Adventures, Inc. have signed a contract for a short duration spaceflight of two tourists on board the same “Soyuz” spacecraft to the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken are scheduled to go outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, June 26, and Wednesday, July 1, for spacewalks to begin the replacement of batteries for one of the power channels on the orbiting laboratory.

Soyuz MS-17 reserve crew members Anton Shkaplerov and Andrey Babkin go on with preflight trainings in GCTC.

On January 15, 2020, the Russian members of the ISS-63 main crew Nikolay Tikhonov and Andrey Babkin passed the test training on docking and "Orlan-ISS" spacesuit systems on the "Exit-2" simulator, the uniqueness of which is that it imitates the work of "Orlan-ISS" suits in the conditions of simulated weightlessness.

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 commander of the International Space Station, Oleg Kononenko, and flight engineer Alexey Ovchinin completed the first spacewalk in 2019 under the Russian program, having worked outside the orbital station for 6 hours and 1 minute. For the ISS commander Oleg Kononenko, this was the fifth spacewalk, and for Alexey Ovchinin - the first in his career. The crew of the 59th international expedition continues the flight program.

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 March 18, 1965, at 10 am (Moscow time), the "Voskhod-2" spacecraft with a crew (Pavel Belyaev and Alexey Leonov) was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. At 11:35 am Alexey Leonov was the first in the world to leave the ship and made a step in to open space. Alexey Leonov's name is forever included in the history of world space exploration. The spacewalk, made by him, was, is and will be a significant milestone in the history of the conquest of the open space.

The spacewalk according to the Russian program was successfully completed by the cosmonauts of Roscosmos Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopiev. The total duration of the stay of the crew of the Russian segment of the International Space Station outside its borders was 7 hours and 45 minutes. When opening the screen-vacuum insulation and micro-meteoric protective panel on the outer surface of the living compartment of the "Soyuz MS-09" spacecraft, a small hole was found, that does not pose any danger to the crew of the ISS. It will also not threaten the safety of the crew of the ship, when it returns to Earth on December 20.

The cosmonauts of Roscosmos, Sergei Prokopiev and Oleg Kononenko, on December 11, 2018 at 18:59 (Moscow time), opened the hatch of the 'Pirs' docking compartment and went into openr space. You can see live broadcasting of NASA TV in English here: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#public