Sergey Ryzhikov
The commander of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Sergei Ryzhikov, said that he would take the Gospel and a handful of Russian soil with him to the ISS. Ryzhikov told about this during a press conference, RIA Novosti reports.
The cosmonaut admitted that on the next flight he will again take with him the most valuable books in the form of paper miniatures – in particular, the Gospel. Ryzhikov also said that he would capture a stone from Mount Tabor: “Since our crew has this call sign.” The Soyuz commander said that he would send some land to the ISS: “A small bag of native soil, since we reflected it on the crew's emblem.”
Sergei Ryzhikov's statement was made during a press conference of the next Soyuz crew, organized online at the Rossiya Segodnya MIA site.
The launch of Soyuz-17 from the Baikonur cosmodrome is scheduled for October 14. The crew of the spacecraft included Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov, Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and American astronaut Kathleen Rubins.
In April 2017, Soyuz MS-02 returned from the International Space Station with a particle of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov on board. The spacecraft was sent to the ISS on October 19, 2016.
