Marina Vasilevskaya had spent the last five days in Zvyozdny Gorodok undergoing a post flight reconditioning program, and today she came
home to a warm welcome of several dozen representatives of public
associations, students and journalists.
The main crew and the backup crew include eight people. In addition to six Russians (Aleksandr Borisov, Yuri Chebotarev, Kseniya Orlova, Kseniya Shishenina, Anzhelika Parfenova, and Artyom Voronkov) the list includes Belarusian Olga Mastitskaya and Egyptian Mohammed Essam Sayed Abdelaal.
Vladimir Gusakov said: “A very prestigious, bright project in the area of manned cosmonautics is being implemented now. We've arranged a major contest and about 2,000 applicants turned up. We selected six women candidates for the cosmic flight."
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with the Belarusian cosmonaut candidates at the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Center in Russia on 24 December.