Crewmember of the Soyuz TMA-7 spaceship going to the ISS go to Baikonur for last preparations

Spacesuits were made individually for every crewmember of the Soyuz TMA-7 spaceship: Russian Valery Tokarev, American William McArthur and third space tourist Gregory Olsen, going to the ISS on a short visit. “Specialists measure the cosmonauts’ many parameters so as to size up every part of the body to make “stellar suits”,” Tass learnt from Gennady Schavelev, senior engineer of the Zvezda enterprise, engaged in making Russian spacesuits.

According to the engineer, stripes with the name of a cosmonaut, the flag of a country and the emblem of a mission are fastened to the outside coating of the spacesuit, made of hard-burning polymer material. The inside pressurized coating, designed to protect a cosmonaut in case a spaceship is depressurized, is made of a rubberized fabric.

After putting on spacesuits, the cosmonauts “will test” antigravitational torso shells of the spaceship, which are to be made personally for each cosmonaut, taking into account individual particulars of his figure. In contrast to old spaceships, armchairs of Soyuz TMA are designed for cosmonauts two meters high. The new armchairs will be handy for the commander of the 12th mission, NASA astronaut McArthur who is 185 cm high and tourist Olsen (186 cm). Russian Tokarev "trails" them in stature: he is only 175 cm high.

The lift-off of Soyuz TMA-7 to the International Space Station is schedule for October 1, Roskosmos reported.