Belarusian Marina Vasilevskaya included in the main crew for the flight to the ISS

Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya has been assigned to the prime crew for a flight to the ISS. Cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky will become the commander of the ship. Marina Vasilevskaya works as a flight attendant of the Belavia airline. The first time she was publicly acquainted with Alexander Lukashenko was during his visit to the Cosmonaut Training Center in Zvyozdny gorodok near Moscow. Back then the President got acquainted with six applicants. The Head of State had a personal conversation with Marina Vasilevskaya. Belarusian pediatric surgeon Anastasia Lenkova has been appointed a backup for Marina Vasilevskaya. The crew of Expedition 21 is to fly to the station in March 2024 on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft.