MOSCOW. Aug 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian, U.S. and Canadian rescuers will practice cosmonauts' rescue at the SAREX-ISS 2003 exercise that will take near the port of Gelendzhik in the Black Sea from September 8 to 12, Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky, chief of the Russian Air Force press service, said on Friday.
The rescuers will practice an operation aimed at saving members of an International Space Station (ISS) crew who have landed on water, Drobyshevsky told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"The main mission of the exercise will be accomplished by a joint rescue team that specializes in detecting and rescuing the ISS crew which, according to the concept of the exercise, had to leave the station after an emergency situation," the colonel said.
Drobyshevsky noted that Russian Black Sea Fleet ships, KA- 27PS Helix and MI-8 Hind helicopters, and the new BE-200ChS amphibious plane will be used in the exercise. The amphibian has just been commissioned by the Russian Emergencies Ministry, he said.