posted 11-03-2020 01:51 PM               

This thread is intended for comments and questions about the Soyuz MS-18 mission to the International Space Station.

posted 11-03-2020 01:57 PM               

Prime crew:

• Oleg Novitsky
  
• Petr Dubrov
  
• Sergei Korsakov

Their backups:

• Anton Shkaplerov
  
• Andrei Babkin
  
• Dmitri Petelin

posted 11-16-2020 09:01 AM               

If the program is approved as it is, cosmonauts Petr Dubov and Sergei Korsakov will have to stay at the ISS for one year instead of the regular six months, in order to secure the film production.

Alexander Khokhlov, a member of a Russian public organisation of cosmonauts, said that a director or a cameraman could be the second participant of the flight.

posted 01-11-2021 08:31 AM               

Basing on the instruction of the Chief Medical Commission, the Interagency Commission for cosmonaut selection and their assignment to the crews of spacecraft and space stations decided to exclude test cosmonaut Andrey Babkin from the ISS-65 long-term expedition backup crew.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev was included in the above mentioned mission backup crew as a substitute also becoming the Soyuz MS flight engineer backup crew member.

The Soyuz-2.1a rocket with the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft launch is scheduled for April 2021.

posted 02-10-2021 02:29 AM            

From January 2021 Mark Vande Hei (as prime) and Anne McClain (as back-up) are training at GCTC in Star City.

Awaiting for Roscosmos decision.

posted 03-09-2021 05:02 PM               

NASA astronaut appointed to the crew of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft

State Corporation Roscosmos is returning to the practice of international launches, and the next flight will take place on April 9, 2021. Together with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Peter Dubrov, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hai will go to the International Space Station.

Interdepartmental Commission for the selection of cosmonauts and their appointment to the crews of manned spacecraft and stations, based on the existing obligations of the State Corporation Roscosmos under the Agreement with Axiom Space, Inc. on the implementation of the space flight of an American professional astronaut on board the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, made a decision to withdraw the cosmonaut of Roscosmos Sergei Korsakov from the main composition of the ISS-65 long-term expedition. Instead, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hai was included in the prime crew as Flight Engineer-2.

The change in the composition of the crew was carried out at the urgent request of the American side. NASA voiced its wishes only at the end of 2020, and therefore the Russian side had to change the already agreed flight program. Roscosmos agrees to this decision, reaffirming its commitment to joint agreements and the spirit of joint use of the International Space Station.

The replacement was also carried out in the backup crews of the ISS-65 Expedition. By the same decision, Roscosmos cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin was removed from the backup, and NASA astronaut Anne McClain will take his place. The flight of the Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-18 under the ISS program is scheduled for April 9, 2021. The tradition of international crews, which has existed for more than twenty years, will be continued again.

posted 03-09-2021 05:26 PM               

NASA Assigns Astronaut Mark Vande Hei to International Space Station Crew

NASA has assigned astronaut Mark Vande Hei to an upcoming mission to the International Space Station as a flight engineer and member of the Expedition 64/65 crew. Vande Hei, along with cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, are scheduled to launch Friday, April 9, on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Vande Hei will participate in a live news conference at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday, March 15, from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, to discuss his mission. The news conference and interviews will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

Vande Hei will work on hundreds of experiments during his mission to benefit life on Earth and learn more about living in space. The space station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and those insights gained will help send humans to the Moon and eventually to Mars. Among the science the crew will conduct during Vande Hei’s mission are studies on cotton root systems and Alzheimer’s disease, and a technology demonstration of a portable ultrasound device.

NASA selected Vande Hei as an astronaut in 2009 and he completed his first spaceflight in 2018 as an Expedition 53/54 crew member. He launched Sept. 13, 2017, and spent 168 days in space, during which he conducted four spacewalks, totaling 26 hours and 42 minutes, before his return to Earth Feb. 28, 2018. Highlights from the research his crew conducted include investigations into the manufacturing of fiber optic filaments in microgravity, improving the accuracy of an implantable glucoses biosensor, and measuring the Sun’s energy input to Earth.

Born in Virginia and raised in New Jersey and Minnesota, Vande Hei is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army. He earned a Bachelor of Science in physics from Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and a Master of Science in applied physics from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. He was commissioned in the Army through the ROTC program and served as a combat engineer. In 1999, he became an assistant professor of physics at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, before his selection as an astronaut.

posted 03-15-2021 02:19 PM            

NASA Astronaut Mark Vande Hei participated in a live news conference at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday, March 15, from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, to discuss his upcoming mission.

posted 03-23-2021 08:46 AM               

Soyuz MS-18 named after Yuri Gagarin

The Soyuz MS-18 crew transport spacecraft, which is currently undergoing prelaunch preparations under the program for the delivery of members of the 65th main expedition to the International Space Station, received its own name "Yu.A. Gagarin."

In accordance with the work schedule, the launch of the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle with the Soyuz MS-18 manned spacecraft is scheduled for April 9, 2021, three days before the 60th anniversary of the first human spaceflight. According to the established tradition, the space mission closest to this significant date is dedicated to the first cosmonaut of the planet, Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, whose name already adorns the surface of the screen-vacuum thermal insulation of the ship's household compartment.

In addition, the official symbols of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight in space will be placed on the launch vehicle's nose cone.

The previous launch of the Yuri Gagarin spacecraft of the Soyuz-TMA series, which took place on April 5, 2011, was timed to coincide with the half-century anniversary of the beginning of the practical development of human astronautics.

posted 03-23-2021 10:28 AM            

The previous launch of the Yuri Gagarin spacecraft of the Soyuz-TMA series...

posted 03-25-2021 03:49 AM            

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei participated in media interviews on March 23, 2021 from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.

posted 03-25-2021 03:59 AM            

Expedition 65 Soyuz Crew News Conference (March 24, 2021): From Star City Russia with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov, and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

NASA video

Expedition 65 Soyuz Crew GCTC Museum Visit & Red Square Visit: Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov, and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

posted 03-26-2021 05:34 PM            

Expedition 65 VideoFile Crew Departure For Launch Site - March 26, 2021.

posted 03-28-2021 11:59 AM            

Expedition 65 Crew conducted the first "fitting" of Soyuz MS-18 on March 27, 2021.

posted 03-28-2021 12:46 PM            

The final stage of preparations for the 65th expedition to the ISS was officially launched at the CPC test facility on pad 17 of Baikonur Cosmodrome.

A ceremony of raising flags of countries participating in the international launch of transport crewed space vehicle Soyuz MS-18 to the ISS took place in front of the Cosmonaut hotel building on March 28, 2021 + at the end (added later 4 questions to crew, the last one about a patch to Oleg Novitskiy).

posted 04-04-2021 09:23 AM            

Here are Soyuz МS-18 crewed spacecraft is ready for final assembly with the launch vehicle photos:

posted 04-05-2021 06:03 PM            

At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Soyuz commander Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and flight engineers Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos and Mark Vande Hei of NASA and their backups, Anton Shkaplerov and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos and Anne McClain of NASA, participated in a variety of activities March 26 through April 5 as they prepared for the upcoming mission.

The footage includes the crew's arrival in Baikonur, their Soyuz fit check in the Cosmodrome's Integration Facility, the ceremonial Cosmonaut Hotel flag-raising ceremony and other training milestones.

posted 04-06-2021 12:52 PM            

On April 6, 2021, in accordance with the decision of the State Commission, the launch vehicle "Soyuz-2.1a" was removed to the launch pad 31 ("Vostok").

posted 04-07-2021 01:57 AM            

At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 65 Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and Flight Engineers Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos and Mark Vande Hei of NASA participated in final prelaunch training activities as the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft that will launch them to the International Space Station was transported to the launch pad in Baikonur April 6.

The footage includes the crew’s final Soyuz fit check activities and the rollout of the Soyuz rocket.

posted 04-08-2021 04:09 PM            

Joining Vande Hei aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft will be Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos... The trio will join the Expedition 64 crew...Vande Hei, Novitskiy, and Dubrov will be part of Expeditions 64 and 65.

posted 04-08-2021 09:50 PM               

Watch the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft lift off on a two-orbit, three-hour journey to the International Space Station! NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch at 3:42 a.m. EDT, Friday, April 9, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.