The new ISS crew passed the first series of examinations.

The main crew, who worked on the model segment of the ISS, was rated «excellent». It is composed of Russians, Alexander Skvortsov, and Mikhail Kornienko, and American Tracy Caldwell-Dyson. Members of the backup crew (Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrei Borisenko and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly) to take exams on the model of the Soyuz TMA, and their activities were evaluated on the «Quartet».

On Friday, March 12, crews will swap: the main crew will demonstrate skills in the Union, doubles — in one segment of the ISS.

Launch of Soyuz TMA-18 with the crew of 23, 24 th expedition to the International Space Station is scheduled for April 2 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The docking station is scheduled for April 4. A few days before the arrival of a new station crew members leave the 22-Expedition — Rossiyanin Maxim Suraev and American Jeffrey Williams. The descent module of the Union "should land in Kazakhstan, near the town of Arkalyk on March 18.