French cosmonaut to treat ISS crew to New Year's dinner

Peggy Whitson, Oleg Novitskiy and Thomas Pesquet, as well as back-up team of cosmonauts Paolo Nespoli, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Jack Fischer answered questions of the journalists about their six-month mission on the International Space Station at the press conference.



Mission commander Oleg Novitskiy of Russia said this will be his second time in space and his team is very friendly. In his words, American 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.
The launch of the Soyuz MS-03 manned spacecraft is scheduled on November 18, 2016.