Russian Movie in Space Part 7

 

The crews are selected and training begins!!

Here at the Space Sleuthing Blog we’ve been following the very interesting ‘Movie in Space’ «Вызов» (Challenge) for over six months , and we’ve already written six Blogs, including some exclusive materials!

On 13^th May, the announcement was made of the identities of the Prime and Back-up crews which will now be prepared under the ISS Expedition Crew 66 programme, for launching on Soyuz MS-19 :-

Prime Crew

Anton Skhaplerov, Klim Shipenko, Yulia Peresild.

Back-up Crew

Oleg Artemyev, Aleksey Dudin, Alyona Mordovina

 

As this announcement was widely reported in the mass media, in Russia, and across the World, we did not see that there was any great value in re-writing all this in our Blog. After all, our purpose is to record different perspectives and exclusives.

However, there are some interesting details surrounding the selection of the two crews which have not been widely reported, but which were collected from Social Media, and which sit very neatly within the purpose and scope of our Blog.

For example, recording the final the timeline relating to the selection of Yulia Peresild and Alyona Mordovina.

Although the campaign to attract actresses and other women to apply for the role was initiated in November (link) the twenty ladies chosen to be finalists were only notified on, or around 7^th March, just a couple of days before a public announcement

The actresses, together with a small number of other professionals (pilot, doctor, psychologist) were tested at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC) in small groups from 15^th March. It is very interesting to note that the first actress to be confirmed as qualified for training as a cosmonaut was Alyona Mordovina. She remained as the only confirmed candidate for a couple of weeks, until, right at the end of the screening process three more candidates were accepted; Yulia Peresild, Sofya Arzhakovskaya (aka Sofya Skya) and Galina Kairova, a pilot. 

At this point, the four ladies had a tense wait of over a month, until the creative team, headed by Klim Shipenko carried out a casting process, on 12^th May. Unfortunately, Sofya Arzhakovskaya could not attend as her son was ill, and she had to quarantine. The following day, 13^th May, the assignments of Persild and Mordovina were confirmed by the State Medical Commission, at the GCTC.

The position of Klim Shipenko as Director, and a member of the prime crew had been clear for many months, subject to him completing the medical and physical tests.  However, his back-up had not been publicly mentioned until the Medical Commission when Aleksey Dudin was confirmed, alongside Alyona Mordovina, and Oleg Artemyev. Aleksey is an experienced and skilled camera operator, who has been involved in the production on several movies and TV series.

There are a number of notable ‘firsts’ which will now be achieved by the Soyuz MS-19 mission:-

•  The first time that an all-Russian crew has been launched to the International Space Station, even though it has been continuously manned for over 20 years.

• The first time that two Spaceflight Participants (non- professional cosmonauts) have been launched together, on the same Soyuz.

• The first time that Russian citizens have been sent into Space, as Spaceflight Participants.

• And, of course it will be the first full-length feature film to be filmed largely in Space. 

We should also mention, that whether it is Yulia, or Alyona, who eventually goes up on Soyuz MS-19, they will be only the fifth Soviet/Russian woman to be launched into Space.

 

Naturally, the mainstream media tends to focus upon the Prime Crew, Anton, Yulia and Klim, but here at the Space Sleuthing Blog, we hope to be able to bring perspectives and experiences from the Back-up Crew, Alyona and Aleksey.

                              

The role of the Back-up Crew can often be over-looked, but they have a critical role to play in ensuring the success of the mission. At any moment, right up to the launch, they are only a heart beat away from going into Space. So, the Back-up crew have to prepare with the same focus, diligence and courage as the Prime Crew.

Indeed, we can look back to situations involving Spaceflight Participants in 2006, 2008 and 2015, where prime crew SFP’s were replaced, for various reasons. Therefore, it is easy to make the connection that Back-up SFP’s have a much higher chance of flying than their professional cosmonaut colleagues!!

On 24^th May, the four Spaceflight Participants reported to the GCTC for the start of the training and preparation process. The initial stages take place over four weeks, and besides classroom study and tuition and beginning to work on Soyuz and ISS (Russian Segment) simulators, will include several key parts of the overall training process:-

•         Flights simulating Zero-G on an IL-76 aircraft

•              Water recovery and survival training, in preparations for potential Soyuz landing of water

•              Visit to the “Zvezda” company for measuring and assessment for the production of bespoke         “Sokol” spacesuits and Soyuz seat-liners.

After this, the Soyuz MS-19 crews will visit the Baikonur cosmodrome to witness the preparations, and launch of the unmanned Progress MS-17 currently planned for 30^th June. It is likely that some of these activities will also involve the crews of Soyuz MS-20, which is due to take two Japanese ‘space tourists’ to the ISS, in December.

At the Space Sleuthing Blog, we want to wish everyone involved in preparations for the Soyuz MS-19 mission every success and good fortune during their preparations, and we look forwards to reporting again, across the Summer.

 

© Tony Quine May 2021

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

  

 

Mystery of Missing ‘Space Tourists’ explained!

Mystery of Missing ‘Space Tourists’ explained

 

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The announcement, on May 13th, of the crew of the first double-tourist Soyuz spaceflight, Soyuz MS-20, caused some surprise, when neither of the expected candidates were named by space tourism provider Space Adventures.

The Space Sleuthing Blog previously reported that the space tourists on Soyuz MS-20 would be Japanese singer, Yumi Matsutoya, and Austrian pilot Johanna Maislinger, who has been a client at Space Adventures since 2017.

Instead, Space Adventures and Roscosmos, announced that the billionaire behind the proposed DearMoon Project, Yusaku Maezawa, would take the flight to the International Space Station, prior to the manned lunar fly-by, accompanied by his assistant Yozo Hirano.

This development caught ‘space-watchers’ by surprise, particularly, as if Maezawa wanted to make such a ‘dry run’ to low Earth orbit, a trip on a SpaceX Crew Dragon would have seemed a more logical choice. However, as NASA have said recently, docking port availability at the ISS is an issue, and it seems likely that Maezawa has taken the Soyuz option, in order to fly sooner than would have been possible with SpaceX.

 

Previously, Yumi Matsutoya’s name had been linked to the flight when her name was included on documents drawn up on the Russian side, alongside the otherwise unknown Yozo Hirano, in late 2020. It now looks probable that her name was used in an effort to conceal Maezawa’s name, as he presumably wished for his identity to be concealed, until the last possible moment. It is notable that Matsutoya and Maezawa share the same initials, YM, in both English and Russian, which may be why her name was chosen for the ruse.

Regarding Johanna Maislinger, a Boeing 777 captain, she had claimed to be raising her own funding and sponsorship for the Soyuz trip, and had boasted back in 2017 that 'money and media support will be no problem'. 

Regardless of how realistic that claim was, she would clearly have been financially out-gunned by the wealth of the Japanese billionaire, particularly when he decided to buy both Soyuz seats. Space Adventures have no further Soyuz flights booked until 2023.

 

In May 2021, information emanated from one of the ISS partner agencies that  revealed, that in early 2021, they were advised that Maislinger had failed to secure sufficient funding for her spaceflight. However, she was being lined-up up to undertake cosmonaut training in Russia, and then to serve as a back-up to a future Soyuz space tourist. Roscosmos has to get clearance from their International partners for any potential crew members on visiting Soyuz missions, including back-ups, so Maislinger’s credentials appear to have been circulated as part of this process.

Sources in Russia had suggested that Yusaku Maezawa would have a 'non-flying' back-up, similar to previous Space Adventures clients in 2008, 2009 and 2015, when three different people trained as part of a back-up crew, but with no realistic prospect of replacing prime crew member, in the event of a serious problem.

Of course, training as a back-up is a much cheaper option than flying, so this seemed to be a more realistic option for Maislinger. 

During the Medical Commission, in May, where the prime crew of Soyuz MS-20 (and also MS-19 were confirmed) a third Japanese citizen was also approved for spaceflight. He was Shun Ogiso, the PR Director of the Dear Moon Project. Ogiso is understood to be a potential back-up for Yozo Hirano. 

However, there was no fourth candidate presented for approval, leaving the question of Maezawa’s back-up, and Maislinger’s fate, at that point, still unclear.

In July 2021, a representative of the Moscow office of Space Adventures finally confirmed that Maislinger never had the financial support required, and had never been treated as a serious candidate for the Soyuz flight. 

Despite this, between June and December 2020, they had included her name on lists of potential clients submitted regularly to Roscosmos. The most likely scenario is that, by this stage, Maislinger was still hanging onto the believe that she could raise the money, and was enjoying seeing her name, and photograph, being widely quoted, as a potential Space Tourist. 

Copyright Tony Quine May 2021 (Updated August 2021)