Penza, 25 September 2014. PenzaNews. The crew of the native of Penza, commander of Soyuz TMA-14M Alexander Samokutyaev, is completely ready to the flight to the International Space Station, which will take place on Friday night, September 26.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

On Wednesday, September 24, the members of the space expedition — Alexander Samokutyaev, flight engineers Elena Serova and Barry Wilmore, and their backups Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly met with reporters.

The press conference was opened by the head of Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Yuri Lonchakov.

He explained that on the eve of the International Day of the Tiger, Roscosmos together with the autonomous non-profit organizations Amur Tiger and Far Eastern Leopards conduct an environmental campaign to attract the world’s attention to the problem of rare species conservation.

“Toy leopard and Siberian tiger named Mur, which will soon become a new character of the children's television show “Good night, kids!” will join the crew,” he said.

In turn, Alexander Samokutyayev added that the symbol of XVI World Aquatics Championship FINA 2015 — a cylinder filled with water from the river Kazanka — will start off to the ISS with the crew.

“The water will be returned to the earth by our colleague Maksim Surayev. We hope that the symbol, which reaches the orbit, will help our athletes to win,” the astronaut said.

Elena Serova supported her colleague, noting that physical training, including swimming, plays an important role for the astronauts.

At the end of the press conference commander Alexander Samokutyayev stressed that his crew will cope with all the challenges.

“Soyuz TMA-14M” is scheduled to start off at 00.25 on Friday, September 26.