Russia’s International Space Station program is having a rough couple of weeks. After accidentally destroying its own ability to launch crews to the ISS, Roscosmos is now dealing with a serious disciplinary issue involving one of its cosmonauts: Oleg Artemyev.
Artemyev was supposed to launch to the station in February aboard SpaceX’s Crew 12 mission, but he has been replaced by fellow cosmonaut Andrei Fedyayev, Roscosmos announced on Tuesday. Artemyev was taken off the mission after sources alleged that he violated U.S. national security regulations by photographing SpaceX documentation and then using his phone to export classified information, according to The Insider, an independent Russian investigative news outlet.
“My sources confirm that a violation did occur and an interdepartmental investigation has been launched,” launch analyst Gregory Trishkin told The Insider. “Being removed from a flight two and a half months before the mission without a clear explanation of the reasons is more of an indirect sign, but a telling one. It is very difficult to imagine a situation in which an experienced astronaut could unintentionally commit such a serious violation.”
This quote has been translated from Russian by Google. Gizmodo reached out to NASA, SpaceX, and Roscosmos for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
A possible national security threat
The law Artemyev allegedly broke is ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations), a set of rules that govern the export of defense-related information and technologies to safeguard national security.
In addition to Trishkin’s claims, The Insider cites a Sunday report from a Russian spaceflight Telegram channel called “Yura, Forgive Me.” The translated report alleges that Artemyev was suspended from pre-flight training at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, last week after he “photographed SpaceX engines and other internal SpaceX materials that are not subject to distribution using his phone and took them off the premises.”
The official statement from Roscosmos confirming Artemyev’s removal from the Crew 12 mission does not address these allegations. Rather, it simply states that he was transferred to another job.
As of Wednesday morning, neither NASA nor SpaceX has publicly commented on the change to Crew 12. Artemyev’s replacement, Fedyayev, will launch to the ISS no earlier than February 15 alongside two still unselected NASA astronauts and the European Space Agency’s Sophie Adenot.
Roscosmos at a crossroads
Now is a particularly bad time for Roscosmos to tarnish its relationship with NASA and SpaceX, the United States’s sole ISS crew launch provider.
On November 27, the launch of Russia’s Soyuz MS-28 mission severely damaged a critical piece of launch pad equipment, grounding Russia’s ISS missions for the foreseeable future. Preliminary estimates suggest repairs could take up to two years, RussianSpaceWeb.com reports.
The breakdown of Russia’s crew-launch capability has forced an unusual level of dependence on NASA and its ISS launch provider, SpaceX. To prevent its ISS program from grinding to a full stop, Roscosmos must maintain diplomatic relations with the U.S., but the allegations surrounding Artemyev threaten to strain this partnership.
While the circumstances that led to Artemyev’s removal from Crew 12 remain unclear, the incident signals yet another blow to Russia’s struggling space program. How Moscow and Roscosmos navigate the months ahead will determine whether it can remain a reliable ISS partner.
