On the morning of September 10, 2019, at the GCTC was a farewell ceremony of the main and backup crews of the International Space Station of the ISS-61/62 expeditions, leaving to the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Among the members of the ceremony were the management and employees of Roscosmos State Corporation, the GCTC, space agencies, as well as the families and friends of cosmonauts and astronauts.

A few hours later, the main crew, consisting of cosmonaut Oleg Skrypochka, astronaut Jessica Meir, space flight participant from the UAE Hazza Al Mansouri, as well as their backups Sergey Ryzhikov, Thomas Marshburn and Sultan Al Neyadi arrived in Baikonur to complete the prelaunch training.

The crew commanders reported to the members of the Technical Management and the State Commission about the readiness for training, after which they went to the Test and Training Center of the GCTC at Baikonur.

Within two weeks they have to go through a set of trainings, classes and briefings, as well as medical examinations.

On Wednesday, September 11, the main and backup crews will conduct the first “fitting” (training) in the “Soyuz MS-15” spacecraft.

They will need to work out the mechanism of action on the ground, get acquainted with the on-board documentation and perform a series of tests of the on-board systems.

The launch of the “Soyuz-FG” launch vehicle with the “Soyuz MS-15” spacecraft is scheduled for September 25, 2019 from the Baikonur cosmodrome.