{"id":328504,"date":"2025-12-06T05:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T05:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/328504\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T05:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T05:11:07","slug":"russian-cosmonaut-removed-from-spacex-crew-12-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/328504\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian cosmonaut removed from SpaceX Crew-12. Here’s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oleg Artemyev, a cosmonaut with Russia’s space agency, has been replaced on the upcoming SpaceX Crew-12 mission, Roscosmos announced.<\/p>\n

A Russian cosmonaut was recently booted from an upcoming NASA<\/a> and SpaceX<\/a> mission to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

Russia’s space agency confirmed the spacefarer’s removal and replacement on the mission, known as Crew-12, but did not provide a reason. However, multiple reports have suggested the move could be related to an alleged national security violation during training in the United States.<\/p>\n

Due to launch early in 2026, the Crew-12 mission could send a contingent of international astronauts<\/a> \u2013 including two Americans \u2013 for a six-month science rotation at the International Space Station<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here’s what to know about Crew-12 and the recent replacement of one of the mission’s crew members.<\/p>\n

International Space Station: Iconic outpost marks 25-year milestone<\/a><\/p>\n

Russian cosmonaut removed from SpaceX Crew-12<\/p>\n

Oleg Artemyev, a veteran cosmonaut with Russia’s space agency<\/a>, Roscosmos, was supposed to launch to the International Space Station as one of four crew members on the upcoming SpaceX mission known as Crew-12. But Roscosmos announced<\/a>\u00a0Tuesday, Dec. 2, that Artemyev had been replaced by fellow cosmonaut Andrei Fedyayev.<\/p>\n

Roscosmos did not address the reason for Artemyev’s removal from the mission, only stating that he was transferred to another job. The USA TODAY Network left a message Friday, Dec. 5, with NASA seeking more information.<\/p>\n

However, a report from\u00a0The Insider<\/a>, an independent Russian investigative news outlet, suggests that Artemyev is accused of violating U.S. national security regulations by photographing sensitive SpaceX documents and technology during training. Insider further cited a report<\/a> from a Russian spaceflight Telegram channel furthering the claims.<\/p>\n

Multiple outlets, including Space.com<\/a> and Gizmodo<\/a>, cited the Russian reports.<\/p>\n

What is the NASA, SpaceX Crew-12 mission? When will it launch?<\/p>\n

As the name suggests,\u00a0Crew-12\u00a0will be NASA and SpaceX’s 11th human science expedition to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

The mission, which is due to launch in February from Florida, will include four international spacefarers, including two still unannounced NASA astronauts. In addition to Fedyayev, Artemyev’s replacement, French astronaut Sophie Adenot<\/a> of the European Space Agency is also reportedly a crew member on the mission<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The missions, most of which last about six months, are contracted under NASA’s\u00a0commercial crew program<\/a>. The program allows the space agency to pay SpaceX to launch and transport astronauts and cargo to orbit<\/a> aboard the company’s own vehicles, freeing up NASA to focus on\u00a0its Artemis lunar program<\/a>\u00a0and other spaceflight missions, including future\u00a0crewed voyages to Mars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SpaceX uses its Falcon 9 rocket \u2013\u00a0one of the most active in the world<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 to launch the crew missions from Launch Complex 39A at\u00a0NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center<\/a>. The astronauts themselves ride a Dragon crew capsule \u2013\u00a0the only U.S. spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts<\/a>\u00a0to and from the space station \u2013 that separates from the rocket in orbit.<\/p>\n

NASA is also hoping to certify Boeing’s Starliner capsule<\/a> to add a second operational vehicle for missions to the ISS before the station is retired by 2030<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Russian launch pad damaged<\/p>\n

Artemyev’s removal from the mission is the latest recent blow to Russia’s spaceflight program after the nation’s launch pad was damaged at the end of November<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome was damaged after a Roscosmos capsule, known as Soyuz MS-28, launched Thursday, Nov. 27<\/a>. The launch helped to propel a crew of three, including a NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts, to the\u00a0International Space Station<\/a> for an eight-month stay.<\/p>\n

Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, was quoted in Russian news agencies as saying damage was observed after an inspection of the launch area, and that it was expected to be repaired quickly, Reuters\u00a0reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Until that time, any of Russian’s missions to the International Space Station would have to be put on hold.<\/p>\n

Who is on the International Space Station?<\/p>\n

Ten people<\/a> are living and working about the International Space Station, but that will soon change.<\/p>\n

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky,\u00a0who reached the ISS in April<\/a> on a Soyuz MS-27 capsule, are due to depart Monday, Dec. 8, for a landing in remote Kazakhstan, according to NASA<\/a>. Their impending return to Earth would come less than two weeks after their replacements arrived on the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Those three spacefarers \u2013 NASA astronaut Chris Williams<\/a>\u00a0and Russians Sergey Mikaev and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov \u2013 are the newest additions at the orbital laboratory.<\/p>\n

Also on the station are four astronauts who are part of the joint NASA and SpaceX\u00a0mission\u00a0known as Crew-11<\/a>. Among them are\u00a0NASA astronaut Zena Cardman<\/a>; NASA astronaut\u00a0Mike Fincke<\/a>; Japanese astronaut\u00a0Kimiya Yui<\/a>\u00a0of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA); and Russian Oleg Platonov, a Roscosmos cosmonaut.<\/p>\n

Crew-11\u00a0launched<\/a>\u00a0Aug. 1 from the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida, as the spacefarers made their venture to space aboard a Dragon capsule\u00a0that was propelled into orbit<\/a>\u00a0atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The four Crew-11 astronauts would ultimately be replaced by the Crew-12 contingent.<\/p>\n

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oleg Artemyev, a cosmonaut with Russia’s space agency, has been replaced on the upcoming SpaceX Crew-12 mission, Roscosmos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[33145,10765,62,33143,800,49,48,10399,2030,1322,11069,11030,2027,33144,12743,6388,1321,77,9693,26613,5341,2033,15990,1337,2041,1327,1342,307,44051,1188,2039,44,2026,2036,1333,44056,1463,19482,17649,6639,66,306,2038,798,20655,9887,6888,51278,1320,1339,61,998,1462,696,1484,519,2031,2040,16085,2032,1617],"class_list":["post-328504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-33145","tag-agency","tag-ai","tag-astronauts","tag-astronomy","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-center","tag-connect","tag-enabled","tag-european","tag-european-space-agency","tag-exploration","tag-falcon","tag-falcon-9","tag-florida","tag-highlights","tag-international","tag-international-space-station","tag-kennedy","tag-kennedy-space-center","tag-know","tag-launches","tag-local","tag-local-connect","tag-modular","tag-modular-story","tag-nasa","tag-negative","tag-network","tag-network-trending","tag-news","tag-outer","tag-outer-space","tag-overall","tag-overall-negative","tag-point","tag-rocket","tag-rocket-launches","tag-russia","tag-science","tag-space","tag-space-connect","tag-space-exploration","tag-space-exploration-vehicles","tag-space-technology","tag-spacex","tag-station","tag-story","tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","tag-technology","tag-technology-news","tag-the","tag-to","tag-to-the-point","tag-trending","tag-ttp","tag-ttp-what-we-know","tag-vehicles","tag-we","tag-what"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}