Penza, 6 March 2014. PenzaNews. The members of the primary and backup crews finishing preparations for 39/40 flight to the ISS coped with complex exam training held in Zvyozdny Gorodok.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

The backup crew — native of Penza Alexander Samokutyayev, Elena Serova and Barry Wilmore — faced a number of contingencies during the exam on the Russian segment of the ISS, including the failure of the receiver VHF1 and solenoid valve for opening the system of oxygen supplement “Electron,” false alarm of smoke detector and malfunction of sanitary sewage disposals unit.

In addition, in accordance with the ticket which the crew commander received, the instructors designed one of the most complex emergency situations — depressurization of the segment.

As a result, Alexander Samokutyayev, Elena Serova and Barry Wilmore gained 4,97 points.

The main crew consisting of Roscosmos cosmomauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev, and NASA astronaut Steven Swanson had to cope with the failure of transmitter when checking means of communication during the prelaunch and air purification system in the living compartment.

Due to malfunction of the onboard computer system during the convergence of manned spacecraft “Soyuz” with the ISS, they had to perform manually.

Also during the exam, the crew faced the malfunction of the pressure relief valve from the orbital module, the failure in the onboard computer system during the descent to “Soyuz,” and the malfunction of the propulsion system on the descent of the ship.

The examination board gave 4,9 points to Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Steven Swanson.

“The complexity of examination training is due to the fact that it has both regular work program and emergency situations. It is the set of actions taken by cosmonauts and astronauts at the time of emergency that the examination board evaluates the work of the crew,” the press service of The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center commented for news agency “PenzaNews.”

As the Russian Federal Space Agency explained, the backup crew passes the same training and examination program and is preparing to replace the main crew in case of injury or illness.

“If such unforeseen situations occur with at least one cosmonaut of the main crew, it is fully replaced by the backup crew. In the entire history of this practice such replacement was required only twice,” the department noted.

Roscosmos added that the rotation of crews is that the backup crew becomes the main one in one of the next two flights.

“Thus, Alexander Samokutyayev, Elena Serova and Barry Wilmore will fly to the ISS in autumn 2014. And they will have a backup crew of their own,” the department said.

The launch of manned spacecraft “Soyuz TMA-12M” with the crew consisting of commander Alexander Skvortsov, flight engineer Oleg Artemyev, and Steven Swanson is scheduled for March 26, 2014.