MOSCOW, June 25. /TASS/: Anna Kikina, the only woman in the Roscosmos cosmonaut team, may fly the US’ Crew Dragon spacecraft for the first time during the flight, planned for September 1, Roscosmos said in its press release Saturday.
"The launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying the Crew 5 mission, which may include Anna Kikina, is planned for September 1," Roscosmos said on its Telegram channel.
According to the space corporation, Kikina will depart to the US Saturday to undergo the next training stage for the US spacecraft.
"She will undergo spacesuit training, including its adjustment for individual parameters, will attend lectures on the latest changes in operation of some systems of the US spacecraft," Roscosmos said.
Earlier, Russian Prime Minister signed an order allowing Roscosmos to negotiate with NASA on implementation of cross flights of Russian cosmonauts on US spacecraft and US astronauts on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. Before that, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said that the decision on cross flights to the International Space Station could be made in early June.
In April, Roscosmos Executive Director on manned space programs Sergey Krikalyov said that the draft agreement on cross flights to the ISS has been approved by the majority of federal executive bodies.
