29 May 2023 16:56

Belarusian cosmonaut Vasilevskaya endorsed as main crew member for ISS flight - Cosmonaut Training Center

MOSCOW. May 29 (Interfax) - The Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya will be part of the main crew for an upcoming visiting expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) led by Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, according to information from Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

The crew of the 21st visiting expedition to the ISS includes Novitsky (commander), Vasilevskaya (spaceflight participant), and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson (flight engineer).

The backup crew includes Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner, Belarusian cosmonaut Anastasia Lenkova, and NASA astronaut Donald Roy Pettit.

Vasilevskaya is a flight attendant of the Belarusian national airline Belavia, and Lenkova is a children's surgeon at the Belarusian National Scientific and Practical Center.

Roscosmos said on March 16 that it had to clear Belarusian cosmonaut candidates with its ISS partners. It said also that a Belarusian cosmonaut's draft research program had been composed and included nine projects in several fields.

Roscosmos Executive Director for Manned Space Programs Sergei Krikalev said on February 22 that the first flight of a female Belarusian cosmonaut to the ISS had been postponed from the fall of 2023 to early 2024 because of a problem on board the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously confirmed the intention to send a Belarusian cosmonaut to the ISS in 2023 during negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.