SAMARA, May 31. /TASS/. Russian space corporation Roscosmos has announced a new stage of astronaut recruitment, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin told reporters on Friday.

"We have announced a new stage of recruitment. These are our astronauts that will work on a new manned spacecraft, including those who will take part in future space missions to distant destinations," he said.

Earlier, Head of Russia’s Cosmonauts Training Center Pavel Vlasov told TASS that the astronaut selection procedure would start in 2019. Roscosmos executive director of manned programs Sergey Krikalev informed that the space agency plans to recruit teams of five or six people.