A month and a half before the start, the main ISS-57/58 crew traditionally started an important stage – the pre-flight exam session.

In the first half of October, cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Haig departed for a long expedition to the International Space Station.

Successfully completed the theoretical examinations, the crew began to pass practical tests on the simulators of the Center.

The commander of the crew began the session with an exam on the camera operator mode of managing the docking of the transport cargo vehicle “Progress MS”.

Training is conducted on the specialized training equipment “Teleoperator”.

The automatic mode, in which docking of cargo ships with the ISS usually happens, can be broken by a number of abnormal situations, which leads to the transition to the manual control mode.

During the test at the “Teleoperator” Alexey Ovchinin worked several scenarios for connecting the  “Progress MC” spacecraft  with the station in accordance with the abnormal situations, indicated in the selected exam task.

The result of competent actions, performed by the commander of the crew according to the methods and on-board documentation, was to get an “excellent” rating for all modes.

The Examination Commission highly appreciated the theoretical knowledge and practical skills, that Alexey Ovchinin demonstrated during the training.