OREANDA-NEWS. May 24, 2011. Roscosmos Board met Monday to discuss flight readiness of the Soyuz TMA-02M crew vehicle, Soyuz-FG launcher, launch infrastructure, ISS, search and rescue system, prime and backup crews` launch readiness.
After several reports made by officials from space industry, Federal Aeronavigation Office, Federal Bio-Medical Agency, Space Force, the Board approved Soyuz TMA-02M launch on June 08, at 00.15 MSK, according to RSC-Energia proposal. The final decision about launch date will be made during the State Board meeting on Human Space System Flight Tests.

The Board also noted the Soyuz TMA-02M prime and backup crew candidates:
Prime Crew:
Soyuz TMA-02M Commander, ISS Flight Engineer – Sergey Volkov (Roscosmos)
Soyuz TMA-02M Flight Engineer, ISS Flight Engineer – Satoshi Furukawa (JAXA)
 Soyuz TMA-02M Flight Engineer, ISS Flight Engineer/Commander– Michael Fossum (NASA)
Backup Crew:
Soyuz TMA-02 Commander, ISS Flight Engineer – Oleg Kononenko (Roscosmos)
Soyuz TMA-02 Flight Engineer, ISS Flight Engineer – Andre Kuipers (ESA)
 Soyuz TMA-02 Flight Engineer, ISS Flight Engineer/Commander– Donald Pettit (NASA)
The crews are to be finally approved at the State Board meeting at Baikonur.
 
The main objectives of the ISS-28 expedition are:
- Soyuz TMA-02M launch with ISS-27/28 crew;
- Soyuz TMA-02M docking to the ISS;
- unloading and accommodation of the hardware delivered to the ISS;
- refurbishment, technical maintenance, repair of the ISS RS onboard systems;
- ISS-28 scientific research program;
- EVA;
- medical measures aimed at maintaining crew health status and proper operational capabilities.

43 experiments in the following branches are planned for ISS-28:
- physical, chemical processes and materials in space - 2;
- geophysics and near-Earth space- 5;
- life science - 7;
- remote sensing- 4;
- studies of the Solar system-1;
- space biotechnology - 10;
- technical studies and experiments - 8;
- studies of the physical processes in the ISS orbit -1;
- education and promotion of space research – 5.

Further Soyuz TMA-02M prelaunch processing implies:

final operations (till tanking)                             16.05. – 27.05.11
crew fit-check                                                         26.06.11
delivery to filling station                                         27.05.11
operations at the filling station                              28.05.11
final operations (post-tanking)                           29.05 -03.06.11
integration with the launcher                                 04.06.11
operations at the launch pad                             05.06. – 08.06.11

The Board advised general designers and heads of the industry to personally control the prelaunch operations, with special attention paid to reliability and safety of these operations at Baikonur.