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State Commission approves Soyuz MS-28 crews ahead of launch

The main crew comprises Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev, joined by NASA astronaut Christopher Williams

BAIKONUR /Kazakhstan/, November 26. /TASS/. The State Commission for the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft launch has officially approved the main and backup crews set to depart from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for the International Space Station on November 27, Roscosmos reported.

"The State Commission has approved the main and backup crews for the Soyuz MS-28 manned spacecraft," the state corporation said in a statement.

The main crew comprises Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov (who will act as TASS special correspondent aboard the ISS) and Sergey Mikayev, joined by NASA astronaut Christopher Williams. Their reserve team includes cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Anna Kikina, and astronaut Anil Menon.

The spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 12:28 p.m. Moscow time (9:28 a.m. GMT) on November 27. The crew will spend 242 days in orbit, returning at the end of July 2026. For the first time, cosmonauts will be assisted in their work by the GigaChat neural network developed by Russia's Sberbank.

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