Roscosmos cosmonauts, NASA astronaut to train together outside Noginsk on June 30

MOSCOW. June 22 (Interfax) - NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson is taking part in the training of the Expedition 70 crew, which is expected to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) in the fall of 2023, Russia's state-run space corporation Roscosmos said.

A simulated crew was created as part of the Expedition 70 crew and will train landing a Soyuz descent vehicle on water.

"The simulated crew comprises Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin and Oleg Platonov and NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson. The training will take place at the Noginsk Rescue Center of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry with the assistance of employees of the Emergency Situations Ministry on Thursday, June 30, 2022," the state corporation said.

The Cosmonaut Training Center said in February that the Expedition 70 is comprised of cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Platonov and Konstantin Borisov. According to the Cosmonaut Training Center's website, at present, the Exhibition 70 crew has been changed - Alexei Ovchinin replaced Skvortsov as the crew captain after the latter left the cosmonaut team.

Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said on June 11 that Roscosmos is expecting NASA to name its candidates for the inclusion in the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft's crew as part of the cross-flights program, and Anna Kikina would represent the Russian side in the crew on the United States' spacecraft.

As reported on June 10, the Russian government has given the green light for talks over the signing of an agreement between Roscosmos and NASA regarding flights to the International Space Station (ISS) on Russian and American crewed spacecraft. The fate of the agreement remained unclear due to deterioration of Russian-U.S. relations amid the Russian military operation in Ukraine.