The training of Russian astronauts for landing on the Moon and Mars will begin later this year, head of Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Pavel Vlasov said adding that the center has already received a helicopter for this purpose: “At the end of 2018, we received the AS350 Eurocopter, which will be used in the training program for astronauts.”
The Eurocopter experience should make them familiar “with piloting not only airplanes, but also vertical take-off and landing vehicles.” Vlasov is confident that astronauts will use the new skills when piloting vehicles “that will land on other planets.”