A Russian cosmonaut has been removed from an upcoming mission to the International Space Station due to allegations of taking unauthorized photos of a SpaceX rocket engine and some classified documents.
Oleg Artemyev, 54, who has been on eight previous space missions, was set to join the four-person SpaceX Crew 12 team heading to the ISS in February.
Reports from Russian media indicate that Artemyev was expelled from the mission under suspicion of using a mobile phone to capture images of SpaceX documents and potentially share classified information. This was first reported by insider.
In a separate account, it was noted that Artemyev claims he secretly took the photographs during a training session at SpaceX’s headquarters in California last November, as highlighted by a Russian spaceflight telegram channel.
Rocket launch analyst Georgy Tryshkin expressed doubts, suggesting it would be difficult for such an experienced cosmonaut to mistakenly engage in a serious violation like this.
Tryshkin went on to say that the decision to remove Artemyev from the mission without a clear explanation, so close to the launch, implied a more serious issue.
Additionally, the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center has also removed him from their training list. According to the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Artemyev stated he had been “transferred to another position” without addressing the reported incident.
Artemyev had previously completed three missions to the ISS, including a lengthy 561-day rotation from 2021 to 2022. Upon arriving at the ISS in 2022, he and two other Russian cosmonauts wore yellow and blue suits to show their support for Ukraine amid ongoing conflict.
There was an incident where Artemyev accidentally ran over a colleague at the cosmonaut training center after returning from space.
His replacement, 44-year-old Andrei Fezyaev, has been described as a “hero of Russia” by the agency. Fezyaev successfully completed his first mission to the ISS in March 2023, nearly ten years after joining the astronaut corps.
The Crew-12 mission is slated for launch by February 15th, with a planned six-month stay at the ISS.
As a side note, Roscosmos mentioned that the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Russia’s sole launch site for manned missions, suffered significant damage during a rocket launch in late November and is currently unusable.
