All news

Cosmonauts Platonov, Artemyev to fly aboard US Crew Dragon spaceships to orbital outpost

In coming months, a Crew Dragon spacecraft will also deliver Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the orbital station, Russia’s State Space Corporation said

MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Platonov and Oleg Artemyev will fly aboard US Crew Dragon spaceships to the International Space Station (ISS) in the coming two years, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos announced on Friday.

"Oleg Platonov has been included in the crew of the Crew Dragon spacecraft (the Crew-11 mission) scheduled for launch in the second half of 2025. Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev has been included in the crew of the Crew Dragon spaceship (the Crew-12 mission) scheduled for launch in the first half of 2026," the Russian space agency said in a statement.

In coming months, a Crew Dragon spacecraft will also deliver Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the orbital station, it said.

Also, NASA astronauts Christopher Williams and Anil Samoilenko Menon will fly aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-28 and Soyuz MS-29 spaceships, respectively, to the ISS in their first spaceflights, Roscosmos said.

"The basic crew of the 74th long-term expedition (the lift-off aboard the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft scheduled for the fall of 2025) that comprises Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev also includes NASA astronaut Christopher Williams assigned to it instead of Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov," it said.

Also, the basic crew of the Soyuz MS-29 spaceship scheduled for launch in the summer of 2026 has NASA astronaut Anil Samoilenko Menon assigned to it. Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov has left the Soyuz MS-29 crew, it said.

Head of Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (part of Roscosmos) Maksim Kharlamov told TASS in January that Roscosmos and NASA had extended the program of seat swap flights aboard Russian Soyuz and US Crew Dragon spacecraft to the orbital outpost. He also said that cosmonauts Artemyev and Platonov could fly aboard US spaceships to the ISS.