OREANDA-NEWS. Roscosmos has begun to prepare two Japanese space tourists for a flight to the ISS, they will join the crew of the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft, which will leave for the International Space Station on December 8, 2021 from the Baikonur cosmodrome.

Space tourist is a famous Japanese billionaire entrepreneur, founder of Zozo Inc. and art collector Yusaku Maezawa, who successfully passed his medical examination. He will fly to the ISS with his assistant. On the ISS, Hirano will be responsible for shooting Maezawa's flight. Their flight will last 12 days; Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will be the crew commander. Maezawa will start his training at Star City in June.

Space Adventures, a leading provider of space tourism services, has united with Roscosmos since the first space tourist flew in 2001. The station has already been visited by seven space tourists who paid for their flight on their own. Yusaku Maezawa will be the eighth tourist and the first one from Japan.

It also became known that Russian actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko will go to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 5. Their candidates have been recommended for appointment to the prime crew based on the results of the competition, according to a joint message from Channel One and Roscosmos on Thursday.

This information was confirmed by the press service of the First Channel. "Based on the results of medical and creative selection, it was decided to recommend Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko to the main crew, Alena Mordovina and Alexei Dudin to the backup crew ... All selected candidates will begin special training for space flight participants no later than June 1. They will have to go through including tests on a centrifuge, a vibration stand, to make introductory and training flights on an airplane in zero gravity, to undergo parachute training. All this will be covered on the air of Channel One, "the statement says.
The start of the expedition is scheduled for October 5 from the Baikonur cosmodrome on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft.