26 Aug 2015 16:57

Kazakh cosmonaut to leave for ISS on Sept 2 - agreement

ZHUKOVSKY. Aug 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The leadership of the Russian and Kazakh Space Agencies have signed an agreement on sending a Kazcosmos cosmonaut, Aidyn Aimbekov, to the International Space Station (ISS) on September 2, an Interfax-AVN correspondent reports.

The agreement was concluded in the wings of the MAKS 2015 international aerospace show in Zhukovsky near Moscow.

The opportunity to send the cosmonaut appeared after passenger Sarah Brightman gave up her flight to the ISS in May 2015 for family reasons.

Aimbekov will spend some 10 days on the ISS and return to Earth together with Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who will be taking off together with the Kazakh cosmonaut on September 2.