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Military rescuers geared up for safe landing of Soyuz spacecraft carrying space tourists

Overall, the search and rescue operation to provide for the safe landing of the Soyuz MS-20 descent module involves about 200 rescuers, 12 Mi-8 helicopters, two An-12 planes and an An-26 aircraft and over 20 motor vehicles

Mi-8 helicopter Yegor Aleyev/TASS

Mi-8 helicopter

© Yegor Aleyev/TASS

YEKATERINBURG, December 16. /TASS/. Search and rescue teams from Russia’s Central Military District have redeployed to Kazakhstan to provide for the safe landing of a Soyuz MS-20 descent module with TASS’ first-ever reporter-cosmonaut and two space tourists from Japan, the District’s press office reported on Thursday.

"Specialists of the Central Military District’s search/rescue and parachute service have been relocated in full to the Republic of Kazakhstan to provide for the safe landing of the Soyuz MS-20 descent capsule with space tourists from Japan on its board," the press office said in a statement.

The Central Military District has redeployed additional personnel from the Chelyabinsk Region in the Urals to bolster the basic group that provided for the safe launch of the Soyuz spacecraft. In particular, about 50 more rescuers have been redeployed to Kazakhstan together with eight Mi-8 helicopters and two PEM-1 and PEM-2 ‘Blue Bird’ search and evacuation vehicles, the statement says.

Overall, the search and rescue operation to provide for the safe landing of the Soyuz MS-20 descent module involves about 200 rescuers, 12 Mi-8 helicopters, two An-12 planes and an An-26 aircraft and over 20 motor vehicles, including six pieces of ‘Blue Bird’ rescue and evacuation equipment.

After their 12 days in orbit, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his business assistant Yozo Hirano will return to Earth on the morning of December 20.

On November 17, Russia’s world-renowned TASS news agency and the State Space Corporation Roscosmos signed a memorandum of cooperation, which stipulates establishing a TASS news office aboard the ISS. Under the agreement, Roscosmos cosmonaut, Hero of Russia Alexander Misurkin has become the first TASS correspondent in space. He is reporting on the space station’s daily routine. His reports are available to the agency’s readership from TASS news resources and his photo and video contributions are uploaded to the agency’s website and official pages on social media.

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