ESA prepares for a human mission to Mars, ESA news, 2/4. ESA is also partaking in the Russian Mars-500 experiment, contributing to the research. The actual experiment seems to have been moved back to 2009 (from the latter half of 2007), with two shorter 100-day missions to take place in 2008 that will test the facility and procedures. A diagram of the complex can be found in a PDF on this page; I posted it at NASASpaceflight.com.
The Expedition 15/Soyuz TMA-12 crew launch on the 7th, so they are now at Baikonur Cosmodrome. Charles’ site takes about two minutes to load (on broadband) and you have to wait for it all to load before anything is visible. Flash-animated sites are evil!
Sergei Krikalyov was there as part of Energiya management: in Energiya photo-report, March 27, 2007. Baikonur Cosmodrome, RSC Energia’s branch. Sergei was at the Baikonur cosmodrome Krainii, Крайний airport with other Energiya managers to greet the Soyuz TMA-10 prime and backup crews. He appears in photos 3 and 6. Also in Energiya photo-report, March 28, 2007. The crew report on their readiness to proceed with their final training phase to General Designer N.N. Sevast’yanov and other managers. Sergei appears in photos 4 and 13.
