16 Aug 2022 13:45

NASA astronaut Rubio arrives in Russia to prepare for Soyuz flight in Sept

KUBINKA, Moscow region. Aug 16 (Interfax) - NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, has arrived in Russia to undergo final training for the flight, head of the Cosmonaut Training Center Maxim Kharlamov told Interfax.

"He has arrived and is undergoing the final stage of training with us," Kharlamov said on the sidelines of the Army 2022 forum.

On July 15, Roscosmos said an agreement on joint cross-flights of Russian cosmonauts and U.S. astronauts to the ISS had been signed.

The first flights are scheduled for this fall, with Russian citizen Anna Kikina traveling to the ISS on the American Crew Dragon spacecraft and U.S. citizen Francisco Rubio on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The launch of the Soyuz MS-22 manned spacecraft on the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome is scheduled for September 21, 2022. Its crew includes Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, as well as NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio.