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ISS-64 crew continues preflight training

The ISS-64 prime and backup crews continue their preparations for the upcoming spaceflight to the International Space Station. The Soyuz MS-17 crewed spacecraft flight allows for superfast scheme approach and the crews will take training cycles in nominal and reserve modes. ISS-64 prime crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, as well as NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins. The backup crew includes Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

The superfast two-orbit rendezvous has a number of advantages, such as decreasing the number of operations performed by the crew inside the spacecraft, says Aydar Bikmuchev, prime crew instructor. ‘This brings down the possibility of crew mistakes,’ Bikmuchev explained. He added that fewer active hours would keep the crew in good health, decrease fatigue and ensure they perform all the final operations at high level. After the docking and prior to opening the hatches, the crew is actively working for another 1.5 hours checking leak integrity, take off the spacesuits and dry them.

The preparations at Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center will end with an exam for ISS-64 crews practicing two-orbit, four-orbit and two-day rendezvous scheme depending on the test paper they get.

The Soyuz MS-17 crewed spacecraft with the ISS-64 expedition will have enhanced approach forecast adjustment not only through Kurs-NA radiotechnical system measurements but also from the data received from GLONASS and GPS satellites. The Soyuz MS-17 is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in October 2020.