The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities (Roscosmos) has chosen four candidates to begin cosmonaut training after a selection process.

The four candidates are Sergey Irtuganov, Alexander Kolyabin, Sergey Terteryatnikov and Harutyun Kiviryan.

In the near future, they will take general space training course for the next two years.

The selection process began on June 3, 2019, after which it was decided to hold a competition, the aim of which was to select the best candidates for ensuring implementation of Russia’s federal space program.

The four men were selected out of an initial pool of 2,229 applicants who entered Roscosmos' open competition. At the minimum, candidates needed to be 35 years old or younger and have a technical degree to be eligible.