KAZAKHSTAN: Space crew destined to International Space Station hold last training before launch

Record ID: 555847

  • Title: KAZAKHSTAN: Space crew destined to International Space Station hold last training before launch
  • Date: 25th September 2009
  • Summary: BAIKANOUR, KAZAKHSTAN (SEPTEMBER 24, 2009) (REUTERS) SUNRISE OVER BAIKANOUR CENTRE SIGN ON TRAINING CENTRE SHOWING COSMONAUT EXTERIOR OF TRAINING CENTRE INTERIOR SPACE CREW TRAINING ON TILTING BEDS TO SIMULATE THE EFFECTS OF FLIGHT IN SPACE 'SPACE TOURIST' CIRQUE DU SOLEIL FOUNDER, GUY LALIBERTE, PUTS ON CLOWN NOSE WHILE ON TILTING BOARD WIDE OF FLIGHT COMMANDER JEFFREY WILLIAMS ON ROTATING CHAIR WILLIAMS IN ROTATING CHAIR LALIBERTE ON TILTING BOARD RUSSIAN COSMONAUT AND LALIBERTE ON TILTING BOARDS TRAINING HALL SPACE CREW TRAINING ON COMPUTER SIMULATION HAND ON JOYSTICK IMAGE ON COMPUTER GUY LALIBERTE WATCHING CREW TRAINING ON COMPUTER SIMULATORS LALIBERTE AND CREW PLAYING BILLIARDS BALLS ON BILLIARD TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) 'SPACE TOURIST' CIRQUE DU SOLEIL FOUNDER, GUY LALIBERTE, SAYING : "I've been having a blast here training. Every teacher I had, every cosmonaut I encounter, has been so generous of transmitting knowledge and also advice about how I should prepare myself." COSMONAUTS WALKING TO FIELD COSMONAUTS WALK TO TREE PLANTING AREA VARIOUS OF LALIBERTE PLANTING TREE SPADES SIGN READING 'TREE PLANTED BY GUY LALIBERTE, CANADA, 2009 COSMONAUTS WATER PLANTED TREES CLOSE AS LALIBERTE PLANTS COMIC FLOWER SPACE CREW WALK TO PROTON ROCKET MODEL VARIOUS OF SPACE CREW POSING FOR PHOTO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) FLIGHT ENGINEER MAXIM SURAYEV SAYING : "I feel happy you know, each day add this feeling inside me, I am happy I am really looking forward." SPACE CREW POSING TO MEDIA
  • Embargoed: 10th October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kazakhstan
  • Country: Kazakhstan
  • Reuters ID: LVA11MBT4E9C312Z6OSWM3VL8JNQ
  • Story Text: Professional and amateur cosmonauts undergo last training before their Sep.30 dispatch to the International Space Station (ISS).
    Members of a space crew due to launch off to the International Space Station (ISS) on September 30 were going through final training on Thursday (September 24) at the Russian launch site at Baikanour on the Kazakh steppe.
    Final exercises included simulation training for the physical effects of space flight as well as a computer simulation of ISS docking technology.
    The space crew also had time for relaxation, gathering for a game of billiards in the training centre.
    U.S. astronaut and flight commander Jeffrey Williams, flight engineer Maxim Surayev and Canadian space tourist Guy Laliberte will be part of the crew.
    Laliberte, a former street artist, will become the world's seventh space tourist.
    "I've been having a blast here training. Every teacher I had, every cosmonaut I encounter, has been so generous of transmitting knowledge and also advice about how I should prepare myself," Laliberte said.
    The crew then took a walk through the grounds of the Baikanour training centre, to plant the now-traditional trees.
    Laliberte, whose trademark during the space training has been a red clown nose, was the focus of media attention as he fooled around with a clown flower, planted near his tree. The space crew then posed for photographers near a model of the Proton rocket which is used to launch satellites from Baikanour.
    "I feel happy you know, each day add this feeling inside me, I am happy I am really looking forward," said flight engineer Maxim Surayaev.
    The crew will travel on a Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft to the ISS. The mission is due to last 12-13 days.
    The Russian federal space agency launches a space craft periodically to relieve the ISS crew , and it is during these missions that private citizens or space tourists can pay to travel into space.
    Laliberte has said he had dreamt of travelling in space since he visited a Soviet exhibition on space in Canada in 1967.
    He has declined to say exactly how much he paid for the trip, but said it was a similar amount to previous space tourists who paid between 20 and 35 million U.S. dollars.
    Laliberte also plans to perform a poem about the Earth's water scarcity from the International Space Station during his voyage, the first ever artistic show to be originate from space. Fourteen cities around the world will join Laliberte in an simultaneous event titled "Moving Stars and Earth for Water," due to take place on October 9, where artists and world-renowned figures will demonstrate their commitment to water and pay tribute to this natural resource.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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