Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft blasts off from Baikonur space center
BAIKONUR. KAZINFORM - The Soyuz MS-03 manned spacecraft with three crew members - Russian Oleg Novitskiy, French Thomas Pesquet and American Peggy Whitson - has blasted off from the Baikonur space center at 2:20 a.m. local time, Kazinform correspondent reports.
The new mission crew of the Soyuz MS-03 manned spacecraft held the press conference in Baikonur ahead of its launch on Thursday.
At the press conference the cosmonauts answered questions of the journalists about their six-month mission on the International Space Station.
Mission commander Oleg Novitskiy of Russia said this will be his second time in space and his team is very friendly. In his words, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson who will travel to space for the third time is a very experienced cosmonaut and French Air France pilot Thomas Pesquet will make his first space flight.
Pesquet who speaks five languages, including Russian, was honored to become the 10th French man in space. "I hope that the French cosmonauts will continue to make space flights and France's national team will be extended," he noted.
It was noted that the crew will celebrate the upcoming New Year in space. The French cosmonaut said he will treat the crew members to the New Year's dinner.
"Peggy [Whitson] will cook the Christmas dinner. And Oleg [Novitskiy] will degustate it," he added.
In turn, Peggy Whitson told the press conference about the program of experiments she will carry out on board the International Space State.