March 17, 2015

On March 14 ISS-42/44 mission main (Gennady Padalka, Roscosmos; Mikhail Korniyenko, Roscosmos;  Scott Kelly, NASA) and back-up (Alexey Ovchinin, Roscosmos; Sergey Volkov, Roscosmos; Jeffrey Williams, NASA) crews left for Baikonur from Chkalovsky airfield onboard special charters. In several hours the aircrafts successfully landed at Krainiy airfield not far from Baikonur where the cosmonauts will pass their final preparation trainings before the flight.

The cosmonauts have already passed training on Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft final fit check in #254 launchpad integration building and tried on the spacesuits.

On March 16, 2015 Baikonur saw traditional flag-raising ceremony symbolizing the beginning of prelaunch preparations final stage. Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail korniyenko raised the flag of Russia, NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Jeffrey Williams – the flag of USA, Russian back-up crew members Alexey ovchinin and Sergey Volkov – the flag of Kazakhstan.

Federal space agency representatives, Baikonur authorities and GCTC specialists were attending the ceremony.

More from this category:
July 5, 2013

Multipurpose Laboratory module (MLM)  launch to ISS will not be postponed despite Proton Crash on Tuesday, – Roscosmos Head Vladimir Popovkin told the journalists. As…

full story
May 5, 2014

Soyuz-2.1a booster with military satellite was rolled out to the launching pad of Plesetsk spaceport on May 4, 2014, – representative of  Russian Ministry of…

full story
November 27, 2014

The postponement of Proton-M booster launch with European Astra-2G space device won’t affect the launch of Proton-M with Yamal-401 telecommunication satellite planned for December 26….

full story
April 26, 2021

Roscosmos and the Chinese National Space Administration have adopted a joint statement on cooperation in the creation of the International Scientific Lunar Station (ISLS). ‘Taking…

full story
January 9, 2014

International cooperation issues, orbital space station design and further space exploration prospects are to be discussed by Space Agencies Heads in USA, – Roscosmos press-office…

full story
July 3, 2014

Soyuz-2.1b booster with Fregat upper stage, Meteor-M #2 space device and 6 small satellites launch from Baikonur is scheduled for July 8, 19.58, Moscow time. The…

full story
May 7, 2014

Soyuz-2.1a booster with military space device was successfully launched from Plesetsk spaceport, representative of  Russian Ministry of Defenсe press-office management on Aerospace Defenсe troops Colonel…

full story
October 24, 2018

October 24 is considered to be the black day in the history of Russian space exploration. On this date within three years period Russian cosmonautics…

full story