News

Press conference at Baikonur

March 17, 2015

On March 17 the main and the backup crews of the manned transportation spacecraft Soyuz TMA-20M, which is scheduled to be launched to the ISS on March 19, 2016, held a press conference at the Baikonur launch site. Cosmonauts and astronauts answered questions from journalists and told about the plans for the upcoming six-months mission.

A few minutes before the press conference the State Commission approved the main crew of Soyuz TMA-20M consisting of Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexei OVCHININ (spacecraft commander), Oleg SKRIPOCHKA and NASA astronaut Jeffrey WILLIAMS. Attending the session of the State Commission was the daughter of the legendary designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, Natalia Koroleva. She addressed the crew wishing them a successful mission, completion of all the mission tasks, and a soft landing when they return.

In the words of the members of the main crew the expedition promises to be very eventful and interesting. The program of applied scientific research calls for 60 experiments in various fields - biomedical science, geophysics, biotechnology, etc. And the cosmonauts admitted that the most interesting experiments would be those related to Earth remote sensing from orbit.

NASA astronaut Jeffrey WILLIAMS pointed out that he actively supports international biomedical experiments because of the important role they play in preparations for long duration missions, and also because they make it possible to expand cooperation between Roscosmos and NASA in space exploration.

Responding to the question about how they are going to celebrate onboard the ISS the 55th anniversary of the first manned flight into space on April 12, Alexei OVCHININ said that the international crew of the station would surely arrange a joint celebratory lunch and dinner to mark this event.

In the words of Alexei OVCHININ, the current ISS crew of Yuri MALENCHENKO, NASA astronaut Timothy KOPRA and ESA astronaut Timothy PEAKE look forward to the gifts and letters from Earth to be delivered onboard Soyuz TMA-20M.

During the six-months mission to the ISS the crew is to work with Russain manned transportation spacecraft Soyuz TMA-19M, Soyuz TMA-20M, Soyuz MS, cargo transportation spacecraft Progress M-29M and Progress MS, US cargo spacecraft Dragon and Cygnus, keep the space station in good working order and participate in its upgrading, run a program of applied scientific research and experiments, perform onboard photo and video shooting, etc. The total planned mission duration for this crew is more than 170 days.

The launch of the Soyuz TMA-20M with the crew of the next expedition to the International Space Station is scheduled for March 19 from Area No. 1 ('Gagarin's launch pad') of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The members of the main crew said that they felt well prepared and expressed confidence that they would fulfill all the mission objectives.