KOROLYOV, Moscow Region. April 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov congratulated the Russian-American crews of the International Space Station (ISS) on Cosmonautics Day during a video conference on Thursday.
"We will enlarge the station," he assured cosmonauts.
The conference involved Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Tyurin, Fyodor Yurchikhin, and Oleg Kotov, as well as U.S. astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and Sunita Williams, and U.S. space tourist Charles Simonyi. The Russians were wearing T-shirts and caps with emblems proposed for the Olympics in Sochi in 2014.
"I believe that such advertisements lift Sochi's chances in both senses," Ivanov said.
He told Yurchikhin that he fulfilled the cosmonaut's errand and handed over the flag of the Russian Federation, which traveled into space, to President Vladimir Putin. "The president asked me to pass you his kind regards and best wishes," Ivanov said.
He wondered what the weather is like in California, because at the time of the news conference the ISS was drifting above North America.
Tyurin said that the weather is always fine in orbit, and that polar lights are sometimes seen in the Northern hemisphere.
"It sounds like extraterrestrial beauty," Ivanov replied and asked Simonyi, how he felt. "I feel fine," the space tourist answered in Russian.
Ivanov spoke to him in English and said he enjoyed watching the first news conference in orbit, when the space tourist was making maneuvers in zero-gravity and answered questions with his upside down.
The cosmonauts thanked Ivanov for the congratulations and good words. "We are all pleased for the attention, because here we are quite isolated, and Cosmonautics Day is our favorite holiday," Tyurin said.
Ivanov said hello to the cosmonauts for the Cosmonaut Training Center where he was earlier on Tuesday. "I went inside the reusable capsule and understood how brave your all are," he said.
Addressing Yurchikhin and Kotov, who are on a half-year mission in space, Ivanov recommended that they should take care of Williams, who will stay in orbit for some months before going back to earth with another space shuttle flight.
Tyurin, Lopez-Alegria and Simonyi will finish their trip on April 20, and Ivanov promised them a warm welcoming party down on Earth.