Hazza completes pre-launch traditions

DUBAI: The International Space Station (ISS) mission main crew members — Hazzaa Al Mansoori, Oleg Skripochka and Jessica Meir — and the back-up crew — Sultan Al Neyadi, Sergey Ryzhikov and Thomas Marshburn ù visited the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum.

During their visit, Al Mansouri and Al Neyadi handed the mission’s logo "Zayed’s Ambition", the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) logo and MBRSC’s book "Race to Space" to the curators of the museum.

The main crew then signed on the Soyuz mission logo, which has their names.

This was done as per pre-launch traditions ahead of the launch of the first Emirati astronaut to the International Space Station, aboard Soyuz MS 15, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Prior to that, the main crew and the back-up crew toured the facility sites and saw the rocket carrying the Soyuz MS-15 into space, which is now being assembled.

They entered the Soyuz MS-15 to ensure its readiness, and met with a team of experts and engineers to check that it has been prepared according to the observations made by both crews in their first fit check, a few days ago.

This is the last time the main crew sees the rocket, while the back-up crew will see it again as it rolls out to the launch station, where it will carry the spacecraft into space on September 25.