MOSCOW, August 25. /TASS/. An inter-agency commission approved the basic and backup crews of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft for the upcoming launch to the International Space Station (ISS) and their preparations for the spaceflight at the Baikonur spaceport, Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center reported on Friday.

"The commission concluded that the crews of Expedition 70/71 to the International Space Station were prepared for their spaceflight aboard the manned Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft and their work in the ISS Russian segment. The cosmonauts and astronauts were recommended for commencing their preparations at the Baikonur spaceport," the Gagarin Center said.

The launch of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft intended to deliver the ISS Expedition 70 crew to the space station with TASS new special reporter in space Oleg Kononenko is scheduled for September 15 this year. The mission’s crew will comprise Roscosmos cosmonauts Kononenko and Nikolay Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara.

NASA astronaut O’Hara will return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spaceship in the spring of 2024 while the space mission of Kononenko and Chub will last until September next year. Upon their mission completion, the Russian cosmonauts will return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft. Kononenko may become the Earth’s first human to spend over 1,000 days in space as part of a year-long expedition.

Roscosmos announced on July 15, 2022 that it had signed a deal with NASA on seat swap flights by Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts to the orbital outpost. Under the deal, Russian cosmonauts will perform three spaceflights to the ISS aboard US spaceships. Roscosmos announced in March this year that the seat swap flight program had been expanded by one more mission.