Medics clear Russian cosmonauts for flight to world’s sole orbiter

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Alexei Ovchinin have been cleared by medics for their flight as members of a new expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) scheduled for March 15, the press office of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos reported on Wednesday. "The main medical commission held a session at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, which analyzed the data of medical examinations of cosmonauts from the basic and back-up crews of the 55/56th long-term expedition to the ISS over the period of their pre-flight training," Roscosmos said. "Following the results of the commission’s session, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Alexei Ovchinin have been cleared for a space flight by their health condition," the press office said. Artemyev is a member of the new expedition’s main crew while Ovchinin is included in the back-up team. NASA astronauts Andrew Feustel and Richard Arnold are set to fly to the space station along with the Russian cosmonauts as members of the basic crew. Their back-up replacement is Tyler Hague. A Soyuz MS-08 manned spacecraft with a new expedition crew is scheduled to blast off to the ISS on March 15 from the Baikonur spaceport. Read more