The launch of the spacecraft to the ISS is scheduled for March 18
MOSCOW, February 15. /tass/. The main and backup crews of the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft, whose launch to the ISS is scheduled for March 18, will begin passing comprehensive examination training on February 22. This is stated in the message of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (CPC), distributed on Tuesday.
According to the CPC, on Wednesday cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev will demonstrate the skills of manual control of the docking of the Progress cargo ship with the station using a simulator. "Next, both crews must pass the exam on the manual controlled descent of the Soyuz spacecraft, and from February 22, 2022, they must begin comprehensive examination training. The final stage of preparation for the flight will take place at Baikonur," the message says.
On Tuesday, the crew members passed the exam on the docking and re-docking of the Soyuz in four modes. "The ISS-67 crews successfully coped with the tasks and received an excellent grade from the examiners," the CPC added.
The launch of the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle with the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft is scheduled for 18:55 Moscow time on March 18. It is assumed that Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov will go to the ISS on the ship. The backup crew includes Sergey Prokopyev, Anna Kikina and Dmitry Petelin. The flight to the station will take place according to a two-turn scheme (about three hours).