Earlier, the crew including only Russians flew to the Mir orbital station in 2000. Back then, Russian cosmonauts Sergey Zaletin and Aleksandr Kaleri headed there onboard the Soyuz TM-30 manned spacecraft.
"Next year, we will have one launch with two [Russian cosmonauts] and then there will be three of them," Krikalev said, noting that these launches would take place in spring (April or March) and in autumn.