STAR CITY /Moscow Region/, November 15. /TASS/. The Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center has selected 16 candidates for the cosmonaut team after examining over 1,000 applications, Center Head Maksim Kharlamov said on Wednesday.

"We have already examined over 1,000 applications and formalized more than 150 good packages of documents. About 16 candidates have been determined and summoned for a face-to-face selection stage and this selection is already underway," he said.

The section procedure has been extended due to a large number of applications, he specified.

It was reported on July 10 that Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos had opened the fourth public selection for the Russian team of cosmonauts. Roscosmos Executive Director for Piloted Space Programs Sergey Krikalyov said that the Russian cosmonaut corps could be replenished by four to six cosmonaut candidates.