Fwd: Kazakhstan to pay Russia $20 mln for its cosmonaut space flight in 2016

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: July 30, 2015 at 11:39:09 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Kazakhstan to pay Russia $20 mln for its cosmonaut space flight in 2016

 

Kazakhstan to pay Russia $20 mln for its cosmonaut space flight in 2016

 

July 29, 17:05 UTC+3
Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov will fly on 10-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in September, replacing British singer Sarah Brightman, who backed out of the mission in May

 

© TASS/Mikhail Dzhaparidze

ASTANA, July 29. /TASS/. Kazakhstan will spend $20 million on the space flight of its cosmonaut, the sum will be paid to Russia in 2016, deputy head of Kazakhstan's Aerospace Committee Erkin Shaimagambetov told a news conference on Wednesday.

Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov will fly on 10-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in September, replacing British singer Sarah Brightman, who backed out of the mission in May.

"The payment sum covers all costs the Russian side incurs for ensuring our cosmonaut's flight. The Russian side has requested a sum of 1 billion and 100 million Russian roubles, which is about $20 million according to today's exchange rate," he said.

According to the deputy head of the Kazakh Aerospace Committee, "Kazakhstan has been looking forwards to this event since 2009 when the flight was suspended due to the crisis." The decision on the flight that is to take place this September was made at the level of the heads of state of Kazakhstan and Russia. "The launch will be carried out from the Baikonur cosmodrome on September 2 at 04:30am GMT, and landing is expected at 01:00am GMT on September 12," he added.

President of the National Space Research and Technology Centre of Kazakhstan Zhumabek Zhantayev said for his part that Kazakhstan's cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov during the flight will be engaged in the study of the water condition of the Aral and Caspian seas. According to him, Aimbetov's scientific programme also includes the study of influence of gamma-ray radiation on cosmonauts and a test of the National Nutrition Institute - tasting of eight dishes, including Kazakh national cuisine, together with other ISS crew members

Aidyn Aimbetov, a 42-year-old fighter pilot turned cosmonaut, will take Brightman's seat on the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft when it blasts off to the ISS in September. Aimbetov will join Soyuz commander Sergei Volkov and European Space Agency flight engineer Andreas Mogensen - the first Danish astronaut - for the trip. Russia's Federal Space Agency Roscosmos reported on Monday it had approved the nomination of Aimbetov for the space mission.

Mogensen and Aimbetov will fly up on the Soyuz TMA-18M craft and land 10 days later on the Soyuz TMA-16M capsule, which will reach the end of its service life as an escape pod for the station crew. Volkov will remain in orbit until March, and outgoing space station commander Gennady Padalka will come home with Aimbetov and Mogensen, the Spaceflight Now web portal reported.

The short-duration flight is necessary to swap out Soyuz lifeboats at the space station in support of a nearly year-long expedition underway by NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. The Soyuz capsule with Volkov, Mogensen and Aimbetov will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the departure point for all Russian space crews. Aimbetov will become the third ethnic Kazakh cosmonaut to fly in space since the Central Asian nation was established with the fall of the Soviet Union, and the second to visit the International Space Station. Brightman arranged to fly to the space station under a contract with Space Adventures, a U.S.-based company which sells open seats on Soyuz missions to business tycoons and celebrities.

 

 

Kazakh cosmonaut Aydin Aimbetov to taste national dishes during ISS flight

July 29, 18:15 UTC+3
The cosmonaut will try the Kazakh meat dish, ayran (fermented milk product) and irimshik (dried sour-milk product)

 

ALMA-ATA, July 29. /TASS/. Tasting of Kazakh national food in space will be one of the experiments to be carried out by Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov as part of the national research programme on board the International Space Station (ISS). Deputy chief of Kazakhstan's Aerospace Committee (Kazkosmos) of the Ministry of Investment and Development Erkin Shaimagambetov told a news conference on Wednesday that there will be 10 experiments.

"During the 10-day flight it is planned to conduct a series of experiments in the sphere of space monitoring, the second sphere is biotechnology and biomedicine - a study of the impact of space flight on astronauts and other experiments. The programme also includes physics and technology experiments. A total of about 10 are planned," Shaimagambetov said.

Thus, the Kazakh cosmonaut will monitor the state of the environment in the regions of the Aral and Caspian seas, in particular, he will explore the pollution of the Caspian region with hydrocarbons from production wells. Also, Aimbetov's scientific programme includes the study of the gamma radiation effects on cosmonauts' body.

Aimbetov will taste eight national Kazakh dishes on the order of the National Institute of Nutrition. In particular, the cosmonaut will try the Kazakh meat dish, ayran (fermented milk product) and irimshik (dried sour-milk product). "We will examine how these products will affect his condition and performance on board the ISS," President of the National Centre for Space Research and Technology Zhumabek Zhantaev said at a news conference.

According to the Kazkosmos chief, the work is currently underway for the coordination of the statement of work and the equipment that can be approved for the ISS flight. He said that about 20 experiments were originally proposed for the ISS mission, but "not all of them will be approved" for the flight.

Russia's Federal Space Agency Roscosmos has chosen Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov for the ISS flight instead of the British famous singer Sarah Brightman who abruptly cancelled her plans May 13 to travel to the ISS later this year as a space tourist on a Soyuz flight.

Brightman, 54, who had been training for several months at Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow, said in a statement that "personal family reasons" led her to postpone her flight to the ISS, but did not elaborate. "We've seen firsthand her dedication to every aspect of her spaceflight training and, to date, has passed all of her training and medical tests," Eric Anderson, chairman of Space Adventures, the company that arranged her flight, said in a statement. "We applaud her determination and we'll continue to support her as she pursues a future spaceflight opportunity."

Aidyn Aimbetov, 42, will take Brightman's seat on the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft when it blasts off to the ISS in September. Aimbetov will join Soyuz commander Sergei Volkov and European Space Agency flight engineer Andreas Mogensen - the first Danish astronaut - for the trip.

Mogensen and Aimbetov will fly up on the Soyuz TMA-18M craft and land 10 days later on the Soyuz TMA-16M capsule, which will reach the end of its service life as an escape pod for the station crew. Volkov will remain in orbit until March, and outgoing space station commander Gennady Padalka will come home with Aimbetov and Mogensen, the Spaceflight Now web portal reported.

The short-duration flight is necessary to swap out Soyuz lifeboats at the space station in support of a nearly year-long expedition underway by NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. The Soyuz capsule with Volkov, Mogensen and Aimbetov will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the departure point for all Russian space crews. Aimbetov will become the third ethnic Kazakh cosmonaut to fly in space since the Central Asian nation was established with the fall of the Soviet Union, and the second to visit the International Space Station. Brightman arranged to fly to the space station under a contract with Space Adventures, a U.S.-based company which sells open seats on Soyuz missions to business tycoons and celebrities.

Aimbetov could fly to the ISS in 2009, but Kazakhstan postponed the mission due to the shortage of funds. The current flight will cost Kazakhstan $20 million.

 

© 2015 TASS

 

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