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Russia’s state commission approves next expedition’s crew for flight to orbital outpost

The main crew will comprise Sergei Ryzhikov and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins

A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with a manned Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft on the launch pad Press service of the Roscosmos state corporation/TASS

A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with a manned Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft on the launch pad

© Press service of the Roscosmos state corporation/TASS

BAIKONUR /Kazakhstan/, October 13. /TASS/. Russia’s state commission approved the crew of the 64th long-term expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), the State Space Corporation Roscosmos announced on its website on Tuesday.

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Russia to launch Soyuz MS-17 crewed spacecraft to orbital outpost on October 14

A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with a manned Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft is set to blast off from Site No. 31 (Vostok launch pad) of the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan at 08:45 a.m. Moscow time on October 14.

"The basic crew of the manned Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft comprises Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins. The back-up crew includes Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei," the statement says.

The Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle is expected to orbit the manned Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft in about nine minutes after the lift-off. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the orbital outpost’s Rassvet module at 11:52 a.m. Moscow time on the same day. Therefore, the flight will for the first time proceed using the two-orbit scheme.

During the new expedition, Russian cosmonauts Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov will carry out 55 research studies and experiments, including four new probes. Three scientific experiments will be carried out without the crew’s participation. The cosmonauts are also set to make two spacewalks. One of them will take place in November 2020 and the other in February 2021.

Both spacewalks will be needed for undocking and dumping the Pirs module next year. This is required for vacating the place for Russia’s new Nauka (Science) module that will be launched in April 2021.

Currently, Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy are working aboard the orbital outpost.

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