Valery Tokarev, the commander of the two-man crew that includes American astronaut William MacArthur, said new equipment for the plasma crystal experiment, which consists of growing plasma crystals under microgravity conditions, would be brought to the ISS by the Progress space cargo vehicle soon.
"Experiments on vaccines against HIV/AIDS have also been scheduled, along with experiments on medicines to fight cancer," Tokarev told a news conference at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin who was the first human to travel in space.
The crew is expected to stay onboard the ISS for six months and make two space walks.
Tokarev said he and MacArthur had a friendly and professional relationship, and no issues had ever arisen between them in their four years of training.
