OREANDA-NEWS. September 23, 2008. Anatoly Perminov, Administrator of the Federal Space Agency, held a traditional meeting with Soyuz TMA-13 crew to fly to the International Space Station (ISS).

Roscosmos Administrator opened the meeting with the following speech: "I am glad to see the ISS crew here, in the Federal Space Agency. You know, today we have this tradinional meeting. I am a person who bears the responsibility for you and your mission, and I lead the Space Agency, so I would like to ask you about the results of your training course, your opinion about the way it had been organized. And, my main question is- are you ready for the mission, psycologically and physically? Especially, I would like to ask the commander about the readiness of Richard Garriott, space flight participant".

Soyuz TMA-13 commander Yury Lonchakov told Mr. Perminov about the results achieved by the crew, the problems which occured during the training, and reported about crew`s complete readiness for the space mission. He also mentioned, that it was valid for Mr. Garriott as a crew member.

Michael Fincke, NASA astronaut and US Air Force colonel, revealed his knowledge of the Russian `classics` during the meeting. Smiling, he quoted Lenin`s words "...to learn, to learn and to learn" regarding Mr. Garriott`s diligence during the training course.

Cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and astronaut Edward Michael Fincke are to spend about 6 months in orbit. Richard Garriott will return to the Earth on Oct. 23.

Following the tradition, Anatoly Perminov presented the ISS expedition crew with the watches produced by Swiss Fortis company. Fortis is the official chronograph used by the cosmonauts. The watches had been manufactured in Switzerland especially for the expedition crew.

On behalf of the crew, Michael Fincke presented Anatoly Perminov with the photo of the crew with their signatures.

Mr. Perminov ensured the ISS-18 expedition crew that the photo "... will be in my office until the crew safely comes back to the Earth. Then I will hand it over to Roscosmos museum, and in my office it will be replaced by the portrait of the crew coming after you".

The so-called `tea-party` was attended by Roscosmos top-level management, GCTC representatives and reporters.

Next Monday the prime/backup crews will fly to Baikonur to continue their training. Soyuz TMA-13 launch is scheduled for  Oct. 12, 2008.