At the site № 17 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome the final stage of the preparation of the ISS-63 crew for the upcoming space flight is in full swing.

The main crew of the ISS-63 is Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Wagner, NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy. The backup crew included Sergey Ryzhikov, Andrey Babkin and Stephen Bowen.

Every day theoretical and practical classes are held with crews.

On April 1, 2020, cosmonauts and astronauts completed a training session on the manual approach of the “Soyuz MS” spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Today, Anatoly Ivanishin, Ivan Wagner, and Chris Cassidy underwent practical training for space flight factors, including vestibular stability tests on a swivel chair and hemodynamic training on an orthotable.

These exercises, together with physical exercises, are daily activities during the pre-launch training of crews.

Under the supervision of doctors, cosmonauts and astronauts are engaged on a treadmill, bicycle ergometer, work on weight training equipment.

The busy training schedule also has a place for relaxation – chess, table tennis and billiards.

The symbolic end of the first half of the day was the ceremony of planting trees on the Cosmonauts Alley.

Commander Anatoly Ivanishin and flight engineer Christopher Cassidy have already planted their trees while undergoing prelaunch preparations for previous flights.

On this day, they helped their colleague Ivan Wagner to join the long-term space tradition.

In the afternoon, the crew held a lesson on the packing and placement of output equipment and payloads in the ship.

In addition, the commander Anatoly Ivanishin and flight engineer Ivan Wagner held a training session on working out the manual docking of the ship to the station.

Traditionally, this day of prelaunch preparation is called Press Day and gives media representatives the opportunity to observe the life of the crew in Baikonur.

Due to the threat of the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19, journalists were not allowed to attend all events involving the flying crew.

The launch of the “Soyuz MS-16” manned spacecraft is scheduled for April 9, 2020 at 11:05:06 (Moscow time).

The planned duration of the flight is 196 days.

For Anatoly Ivanishin and Christopher Cassidy, the flight to the ISS will be the third.

Ivan Wagner will work in orbit for the first time.