At the meeting in Star City Interdepartmental Commission called for new ISS main and back-up crews approval , – GCTC spokesman reported.
“The crews will be finally approved by the State Commission directly at Baikonur spaceport several days before the launch”, – GCTC representative stated.
The main crew consists of Mikhail Tyurin (Roscosmos), Rick Mastracchio (NASA) and Koichi Wakata (JAXA). Soyuz TMA-11M launch is to take place from Baikonur spaceport on November 7, 2013. The crew will stay onboard the ISS for 190 days. The most peculiar about the mission is the flight of Olympic torch to the ISS, on November 9 the torch will take part in the spacewalk and will be carried into the open space. The back-up crew comprises Maksim Surayev (Roscosmos), Gregory Wiseman (NASA), Alexander Gerst (ESA).
Earlier both crews successfully passed all preflight examinations in Star City, soon they’ll continue their preflight preparation at Baikonur spaceport from where Soyuz TMA-11M manned space vehicle will be launched on November 7, 2013.
