Only Female Cosmonaut In Russia's Team Awaiting Assignment, She Tells Sputnik

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th March, 2021) Russia's only current female cosmonaut Anna Kikina told Sputnik that the exact time when she is expected to head to the International Space Station (ISS) has not been determined yet.

"There is no exact information. I am waiting to be appointed to the crew," Kikina said, adding that she is currently undergoing preliminary training.

In June of last year, Russian space agency Roscosmos said that Kikina was going to head to the ISS as part of the Russian crew in two years.

Kikina has been the only Russian female cosmonaut since September 2016.

In November 2017, she took part in the international SIRIUS (Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station) project that studies the effects of isolation, simulating Moon missions.

The Soviet Union sent the first two women into space: Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982 and 1984. Another two Russian women were sent into space after the collapse of the USSR: Yelena Kondakova who traveled to the Mir space station in the 90s, and Yelena Serova who became the first Russian woman to fly to the ISS in 2014.