MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax) - U.S. astronaut Christopher Ferguson has begun training at the Russian Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center for an experimental flight to the International Space Station (ISS) on board the Starliner private spacecraft, the training center said in a statement on its website.
"As an astronaut and pilot of the Boeing commercial spacecraft, Christopher Ferguson will be among the first people to go travel into space on board the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft," the statement said.
Ferguson has piloted the Space Shuttle three times and has commanded crews twice during his space career. He also leads the Boeing division for crews and support systems of the flight program of CST-100 Starliner commercial spacecraft.
"Christopher Ferguson's training at the Cosmonaut Training Center will take one week, during which he will learn the design and component parts of the ISS Russian segment and the designations of its onboard systems. The astronaut will also study the operating algorithms of systems and the ISS crew's actions in case of emergencies," the statement said.
The spacecraft is scheduled to perform a manned flight in August 2019. Prior to that, two launches will be carried out to test its emergency rescue system. The first is expected in April. Unlike the SpaceX descent capsule, which splashes down in the ocean, the CST-100 Starliner descent vehicle will land in the western part of the United States.