OREANDA-NEWS. May 6, 2009. Prime and backup Soyuz TMA-15 crews pass preflight exams today at GCTC. Russian Roman Romanenko, ESA astronaut Frank de Winne and Canadian Bob Thirsk go through simulation in the ISS Russian segment trainer.

Backup- Dmitry Kondratiev, Chris Hadfield (NASA) and Andre Kuipers (ESA)- show their skills in the Soyuz simulator. The crews will swap tomorrow.

On May 7, the interagency board will approve the Soyuz prime crew to fly to the ISS on May 27. The lift-off is scheduled at 14:34 Moscow time.