OREANDA-NEWS. The risks of the launch of the launch vehicle "Soyuz-FG" with the manned spacecraft "Soyuz TMA-17M" and its further coupling with International Space Station were insured by SOGAZ JSC and Ingosstrakh IOJSC for 2.4 billion roubles. The insured is "Center for Operation of Space Ground-Based Infrastructure" Federal State Unitary Enterprise (COSGBI FSUE).

The spacecraft and the launch vehicle were insured against the total loss in the case of emergency starting. Besides, "Soyuz-TMA-17M" is insured against loss during the period of coupling with the International Space Station (ISS).

It was a coinsurance contract signed following an open tender. The share of each company is 50 percent.

At 00:02 a.m. Moscow on July 23, the launch vehicle "Soyuz-FG" with the manned spacecraft "Soyuz TMA-17M" was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. After six hours of autonomous flight, the craft successfully docked to MIM-1 small research module of the Russian segment of the ISS.

The spacecraft crew consists of Commander Oleg Kononenko, Kimiya Yui - astronaut of JAXA Japanese space agency - as Flight Engineer, and NASA astronaut Chell Lindgren. The planned duration of ISS-44/45 expedition members' flight will be 163 days. They are to make a lot of research, including the following: experimental testing of the methods of monitoring electromagnetic and plasma precursors of earthquakes, emergencies, and man-made disasters; development of methods for getting polymeric materials resistant to biological corrosion; medical experiments; and many others.