Russia's news agency to open office in space

MOSCOW, Nov 18 (Xinhua): Russia's leading TASS news agency signed a memorandum of cooperation with the state space corporation Roscosmos on Wednesday to open a permanent representation on the International Space Station (ISS).

"The first correspondent in space will be Hero of Russia, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin," TASS head Sergei Mikhailov said after inking the document with Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin.

Misurkin is scheduled to leave the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the ISS on Dec. 8 together with a Japanese billionaire and his business assistant onboard the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft for a commercial mission.

"It is an incredible honor for us to call our Russian cosmonauts colleagues. We look forward to news and amazing footage from space," Mikhailov said.

Rogozin said at the ceremony that the idea is not "extravagant" because many Roscosmos cosmonauts have already been actively documenting their activities in orbit.

Following a thorough discussion, the state space corporation decided to accept Mikhailov's interesting and important proposal, he said.