General training took place at the base in Houston, said cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev
MOSCOW, February 25. /tass/. The crew of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which is scheduled to go to the ISS in the fall, has already begun training together with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. This was announced by cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev at a conference in TASS, which is held in an online format together with Roscosmos and the CPC.
"Yes, of course, we have started [preparation]. There were general trainings at the base in Houston, various trainings for emergency situations," he said.
According to Prokopyev, the astronaut was visiting the Star City. "We know each other very well and are ready to work together as it turns out," he added.
Prokopyev is part of the backup crew of Soyuz MS-21, which will go to the ISS on March 18, as well as the main crew of Soyuz MS-22.
Earlier, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin told reporters that cosmonaut Anna Kikina could be the first to fly on the American Crew Dragon ship under the cross-flight program in 2022. In this case, Rubio will fly on the Russian Soyuz. In turn, Kikina noted that she was pleasantly surprised by this decision of the management. In an interview with The New York Times, Rogozin clarified that the state corporation plans to carry out one cross-flight per year with NASA in 2022-2024.
