MOSCOW, Nov. 16. /TASS/. Russia and Mongolia are discussing technical aspects of preparations for the space flight of a Mongolian female cosmonaut at the expert level, the press service of Roscosmos told TASS on Tuesday.
"At present, the parties are actively discussing at the expert level technical aspects of the implementation of the project, in particular the mechanism and criteria for selecting potential candidates, the conditions of their training, the scientific program of the planned flight, as well as its timeframe," the press service said.
The Russian state corporation stressed that the project to train the first female cosmonaut of Mongolia is among the priority trajectories of space cooperation between the countries.
On Tuesday, Moscow hosted the 24th meeting of the Russian-Mongolian intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation. Space cooperation prospects were among the focal points.
Russia and Mongolia have agreed to train the first Mongolian female cosmonaut, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko told journalists after the meeting.
"The traditional Russian-Mongolian partnership in the sphere of space exploration continues. We agreed that Russian specialists would train the first Mongolian woman cosmonaut. I believe that this will be a good and landmark project and will be a follow-up to the joint flight by Vladimir Dzhanibekov and first Mongolian cosmonaut Jugderdemidiin Gurragchaa," the deputy prime minister said.
Roscosmos earlier announced it was in talks with the Mongolian Digital Development and Communications Ministry on the prospect of sending the country’s first female cosmonaut into the Earth’s orbit. Currently, Belarus is selecting a cosmonaut to travel to the orbital station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in 2023.