OREANDA-NEWS. Russian state corporation Roscosmos decided to replace the crew of the next expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), which should depart in April. Two cosmonauts will be replaced by backup pilots due to medical recommendations. This was reported to RBC news agency in the press service of Roscosmos, citing the company’s executive director for manned programmes, Sergey Krikalyov.

The latter informed that instead of Nikolay Tikhonov and Andrey Babkin, Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner will fly to the ISS. According to Krikalyov, the recommendations of physicians are “related to preparation on Earth.” He did not provide other details.

The flight of the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft is scheduled for April 9 this year. The crew of the ship initially included Russian cosmonauts Tikhonov and Babkin, and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy.