michael najjar signs contract for cosmonaut training at yuri gagarin cosmonaut training center
being a part of his "outer space" series and as prepartion for his virgin galactic spaceflight michael najjar will undergo an extensive cosmonaut training at the gctc in russia. the cosmonaut training center was inaugurated on January 11, 1960 in star city outside moscow. in 1969 it was named after yuri gagarin, the first man to fly in space.
the main task of the gctc until today is the training of cosmonauts for various space missions, including simulation of spaceflights. michael´s training includes medical screening, mig 29 stratosphere flight, hydrolab spacewalk simulation, zentrifuge training, zero-g flight and several other exercises. the first part of the training will start in december 2012, the second will take place in spring 2013.