MOSCOW. Sept 17 (Interfax-AVN) - The final examination sequence has started at the Cosmonaut Training Center in the Zvyozdny City in the Moscow region for the main and backup crews of Expedition 16 to the International Space Station.
"Russian Yury Malenchenko and NASA Peggy Whitson of the main crew, together with first Malaysian cosmonaut Shaikh Muzsaphar Shukor have started the exam in station control, while the backup crew is standing the Soyuz spacecraft control exam," Russian Mission Control's press service told Interfax-AVN.
The training is to take the whole day and will end only late at night. The exam will be the final training event for the cosmonauts in Zvyozdny. In addition to the medical clearance, the passing of the exam is the main criterion for the Russian Space Agency to give go-ahead to a crewmember for the space flight.
The cosmonauts will pull one of the five examination cards, each containing six questions, describing emergency situations, which should be managed by the examinees most urgently. The questions for the exams are prepared by Mission Control officials.
The launch of Soyuz TMA-11 with the crew of Expedition 16 from Baikonur is slated for October 10.