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Russia offers to train Saudi, Bahraini astronauts — Roscosmos

"We have presented our proposals and now those countries are considering their options," a representative of Russia's space agency Roscosmos said

MANAMA, November 14. /TASS/. Russia’s space agency Roscosmos is holding talks with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on their astronauts’ possible training for an International Space Station (ISS) mission, Dmitry Loskutov, head of Roscosmos’ international cooperation department, told TASS on the sidelines of the Bahrain International Airshow (BIAS-2018) on Wednesday.

"Today we are scheduled to hold consultations with heads of the space agencies of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)," Loskutov said.

"Two astronauts from the UAE are undergoing training at the [cosmonauts’] training center named after Yury Gagarin. One as the primary [pilot] and the other as the backup one. Under the contract signed with the UAE on October 1, their subject’s mission to the International Space Station will take place in 2019," he said.

"We would like to offer our training services to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. We have presented our proposals and now those countries are considering their options," he said.