posted 02-17-2007 04:40 PM               

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ISS crewmember Tyurin marks 25th marriage anniversary

The Russian Space Mission Control Centre will organise a special video session with the International Space Station on Saturday for relatives and friends of flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin, a crewmember of ISS Expedition 14, to congratulate him on his family jubilee -- the 25th marriage anniversary. The session will begin at 15:30 Moscow time.

There is no scenario of the meeting. Nothing was planned beforehand, the cosmonaut's wife psychologist Tatyana Tyurina told Itar-Tass.

His family and also his fiends, with whom he studied together and who were guests at his wedding 25 years ago, will come for the session. Probably, they have prepared some surprise, but it is a secret for her, Tatyana said.

However, she said that she herself had prepared a surprise for her husband and sent it in the Progress cargo craft to the space station in late January, but with a strict warning not to open it until the jubilee day. Mikhail perhaps has already opened it, as the couple's 25th marriage anniversary was marked on February 16. However, the content of the parcel is a family secret.

Psychologists who will also come to the Mission Control Centre to congratulate Tyurin do not make a secret of their gift sent in the Progress. It is a beautiful congratulatory postcard and some candy, chief space psychologist Olga Kozerenko said.

The family is at the first place for Tyurin. It was always so in their family, his wife said.

Mikhail phones his relatives every day, she added.

The Tyurins will celebrate all the past holidays, including "the silver wedding" (the 25th marriage anniversary), after the family head returns on the earth in April. Even the Christmas tree is not removed yet, Tatyana said.

The ISS crew has a day off this Saturday, however, they have to do some work, including weekly cleaning of the station. So, Tyurin is to clean his orbital home before meeting with his relatives and friends. His two American colleagues — Michael Lopez-Alegria and Sunita Williams — will help him to do the work.

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