Photo Report: Upcoming Russian-French ISS Soyuz Mission

Click on image to enlarge

On July 4-6, 2001, the delegation of French journalists, now in Russia
familiarizing with the course of preparation for the coming Russian-French
spaceflight, has visited Zvezdny Gorodok (Star City).

The representatives of French mass media and their Russian colleagues
attended the official press-conference in the Cosmonauts House, at which
the main and back-up crews were presented, now undergoing training for
the flight to the International Space Station as visiting crew. The
main crew members are Russian Air Force colonel Victor Afanasiev, Korolev
RSC Energia engineer Konstantin Koseev and French cosmonaut Claudie
Haignere; back-up crew members – Russian Air Force lieutenant-colonel
Sergei Zaletin and Korolev RSC Energia engineer Nadezhda Kuzhelnaya.
The contract does not provide for the French back-up cosmonaut.

J.P. Kargopolov, chief of the cosmonauts training department at Gagarin
Cosmonauts Training Center, Russian State Research Institute (RGNII),
briefed all those present on the program and the course of crews training.
Cosmonauts answered the questions of journalists.

The journalists were given the opportunity to watch the crew train in
the Soyuz spacecraft simulator and with the Plasma Crystal installation.
The Korolev RSC Energia specialists participated in the course of this
training session.