Why is Belarus sending a Flight Attendant into Space?

(Updated 13th March 2024)

We’ll say, here and now, that we still don’t have a definitive answer to that question, but as the launch of Soyuz MS-25 (full details here) draws nears, lets look at the latest information.

As we update this Blog, the two crews for Soyuz MS-25 have been at Baikonur for a week, to undertake final pre-launch training, so lets look back at the key events that have got Marina Vasilevskaya to this point. 

 

This project was officially signed-off by Putin and Lukashenko in April 2022, and in June 2022, a statement attributed to the Belarus Academy of Sciences (AoS) said that one hundred candidates had been identified. All candidates had to be between 22 and 35 and with a scientific, medical or engineering degree and relevant experience.

Belarus has released little information about the selection process for the Belarusian Woman in Space’ project. No open call was made, so it seems reasonable to assume that scientific, medical, engineering, and, possibly, military organisations were invited to nominate candidates. Much more recent statements said that Marina Vasilevskaya and Anastasia Lenkova had been chosen from three thousand applicants, so there’s an obvious inconsistency here in the true number of applicants.

By late 2022, the list was down to twenty-nine names, nineteen men and ten women. At some point, someone remembered that Lukashenko had promised to send a woman and so it seems that the men dropped out. Six of those women went to Star City, near Moscow, for vetting by Russian experts, over several days, in December 2022. All six were said to have passed, which, when compared to other similar selection groups, seems statistically improbable.

The six comprised two doctors, two scientific researchers and two flight attendants.

On the final day of this process, Lukashenko visited, and one of the six, Belavia flight attendant, Marina Vasilevskaya, repeated her 8 g centrifuge run. The same day, Lukashenko was photographed standing between Vasilevskaya and Dr Anastasia Lenkova, perhaps suggesting that he had made the selection of the final two candidates himself, at that moment.  

Dr Anastasia Lenkova, 28, is a doctor, a children’s paediatric surgeon, and radiologist. Initially, that was the extent of her official biography, but some online research told us a lot more. She won the Belarusian award as the Outstanding Young Medical Practitioner in 2019. She undertook studies, and work, at hospitals in Great Britain (York) and in Moscow. She has authored numerous medical and academic papers, and has presented her work at conferences across Western Europe. On 1st March 2024, her official cosmonaut biography was published by Roscosmos, and now includes all this information. It is a very impressive resume for someone who is only 28 years old.

It is easy to see how Anastasia would be considered as a perfect candidate to conduct the programme of medical and scientific which the Belarusian Academy of Sciences is apparently co-ordinating. But, for some reason, she was deemed better suited to the back-up role, and Marina Vasilevskaya was preferred to her.

So, what do we know about Marina? Well, the first thing we can say is that her resume is much less impressive, and it is a mystery how she was even allowed to enter the selection procress.

Marina Vasilevskaya is 33 years old, and became a flight attendant, with Belavia, in 2017. At some point, she became a cabin crew instructor. According information released through the Belarusian media, prior to 2017, she was a professional ballroom dancer. Unlike Anastasia, her online history is almost non-existent. What we have been told, implies that she began her dancing career in 2002, when she was twelve. Whilst this is perfectly plausible, it is perhaps a little strange that there is no record or ‘footprint’ of any of this online. She apparently left school at sixteen without any higher education, to pursue her dancing career. A professional dancer might be expected to win competitions, or appear on TV, but there is no information available about any such events.

In addition, she had no social media presence prior to 2017. This is extremely unusual for a young woman, especially one allegedly involved in a career where publicity and self-promotion are quite important.

Her high school graduation record is available, online, and it shows she left school in 2006, seemingly confirming that she did not continue to higher education, at that time.

When her official biography was also published on 1st March 2024, it was revealed that she obtained a degree in 'Management' at the Minsk University of Innovation, in 2017, just before she joined 'Belavia'. There is now no mention of dancing, which now appears as a hobby, and no explanation of what she was doing between 2006 and 2017. This period simply isn't mentioned by Roscosmos, the Belarusian AoS, and is not questioned by the compliant Belarusian media. 

A degree in a STEM related subject was said to be a pre-requisite to apply for the cosmonaut selection process.  How did she overcome this obstacle? How was Marina even able to enter the selection process?

So, all this raises the distinct possibility that perhaps Marina had another career between 2006 and 2017. One which gave her some education, skills or experience which eventually enabled her to be invited, or fast-tracked, into the cosmonaut selection. Or, perhaps it was also a career, or role, that brought her into contact with Lukashenko, or his circle, and reaffirmed her political loyalty and reliability. This would certainly have been a key consideration in Lukashenko’s eyes. 

When the search for a woman cosmonaut began, perhaps Lukashenko, one of his sons, or one of his advisors, threw Marina's name into the mix. How else would a flight attendant even be eligible to apply? 

Whatever she did between 2006 and 2017, it seems to be something that the Belarusian regime, the AoS and Marina Vasilevskaya herself don't want to talk about. Perhaps it is something that NASA, ESA and the other ISS partners might not be wholly comfortable with?

Since their assignments were announced in May 2023, Vasilevskaya and Lenkova’s contact with the media has been very carefully managed. They had given only a handful of interviews, to selected Belarusian state controlled media outlets. On each occasion, Lukashenko, or a member of his family was involved. Clearly the dictator wants some of the glamour, and prestige, of this flight to rub off on him.

In these few public appearances, Vasilevskaya has come across as very confident and self-assured. One of her instructors described her as fearless. She has praised Lukashenko and the AoS for giving her opportunity to go into Space. She has clearly been carefully vetted by both the Belarusian and Russian sides, and she does come across as someone who is more than a typical flight attendant. 

For several months, Dr Lenkova was a little more reserved with her remarks, although as the back-up, she is always going to be in Vasilevskaya’s shadow. However, during the final few days of activities at Star City, and during the pre-departure press conference, she was more open and forthright about her hopes and feelings.  

In the last two weeks, both Soyuz MS-25 crews have completed their training, exams and all pre-flight traditions, before leaving for Baikonur. To be fair to Marina Vasilevskaya, she achieved an excellent rating from her instructors, and her Soyuz commander, Oleg Novitsky said that was capable of flying as a fully-fledged flight engineer. Anastasia Lenkova also achieved similar rating in the exams.

This has opened up a lot more media attention on both Vasilevskaya and Lenkova, and also their families. Marina has given the impression of being a strong, confident, and even charismatic, woman, who is totally focused on performing the task she has been selected for. 

Anastasia Lenkova is clearly equally well-prepared, qualified and willing to fly. She has responded to all questions about being the back-up professionally, and with dignity. She gives the impression that she definitely hasn't given up on the possibilty that she could still fly on MS-25. But, as is often the nature of such situations, as the back-up, she is always slightly in the background. Perhaps her turn will come on a long duration flight, in a couple of years?

So, to go back to the question we asked at the beginning; "Why is Belarus sending a Flight Attendant into Space?"

The most likely answer is that Marina Vasilevskaya is, somehow, more than a regular flight attendant. She has probably done other things in her career, that allowed her into the cosmonaut selection process, and once in that process, her strong personality, and perhaps her contacts, enabled her to emerge as the favoured candidate, ahead of women with much superior professional qualifications.

It now looks almost certain that Marina will be launched into Space on 21st March, so, however she managed to get the assignment, we wish her good luck and a safe trip. 

When she returns, she will doubtless become a useful, loyal and reliable 'poster girl' of the Lukashenko regime. 

Updated 13th March 2024

Photos GCTC/NASA

Belarusian ISS visiting mission planned for March 2024

Details of the Soyuz MS-25 visiting mission to the ISS which will carry the first Belarusian cosmonaut continue to emerge slowly, mostly through the Russian, rather than Belarusian, media. 

The short-term Visiting Mission-21 will be launched on 21st March 2024 and will be commanded by veteran Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, and will also deliver NASA astronaut Tracey Caldwell-Dyson who will join ISS Expeditions 70/71 for a six month stay. The third seat will be occupied by the woman selected to be the first Belarusian in space, Marina Vasilevskaya, 33, a former flight attendant-instructor with the national airline ‘Belavia’. 

The Belarusian side apparently asked that Novitsky command the flight as he was born in what is now Belarus, although he has always held Soviet, and later Russian, nationality. 

Novitsky and Vasilevskaya will stay on the ISS for twelve days, before returning with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, who arrived in September 2023, onboard Soyuz MS-24. Soyuz MS-25 will be the first Russian (or Soviet) spaceflight to launch with two women on board, although, ironically, neither will be Russian. However, the returning MS-24 won’t be, as that distinction is held by Soyuz TMA-11, in 2008. Neither of the women onboard that landing, Peggy Whitson (NASA) and Soyeon Yi (South Korea), were Russian either!

The idea of a flight of a Belarusian cosmonaut, to the ISS, was first put forward, in December 2021, by Dmitri Rogozin, then the Head of Roskosmos. At that time Rogozin said that he would ask Belarus to select a ‘girl’, as such a selection would ‘brighten up the Cosmonaut Training Centre’! 

In April 2022, the Russian and Belarusian leaders, Putin and Lukashenko, issued a statement confirming that they had agreed to the flight of Belarusian cosmonaut in 2023 or 2024, as a "symbol of friendship between Russia and Belarus". 

Little was heard for many months, but on Christmas Eve 2022, six women, aged 25 to 32, arrived at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC ) for medical and psychological assessment. They comprised two doctors, two scientific researchers and two flight attendants with ‘Belavia’. Information on how these six were selected is very sparse, although in was reported that there was an earlier short-list of nineteen men and ten women. The men were later excluded, to comply with Rogozin’s earlier diktat, even though he had been removed from his post in July 2022. Why flight attendants had even been eligible to apply, or be considered, is unclear, but more about that later.

Lukashenko was present at the GCTC, and one of the women, Marina Vasilevskaya, was required to do an 8-G centrifuge run, for his amusement. Later, Lukashenko was photographed next to the eventual prime and back-up candidates. Given his subsequent interest in the project, and style of leadership, it is highly that Lukashenko made the final selections himself, there and then, and that Vasilevskaya had secured the prime seat by either volunteering, or agreeing, to that centrifuge ride.

The Belarus Academy of Sciences initially said that Vasilevskaya would conduct a programme of twelve scientific experiments without giving any details, but subsequent statements reduced this number to nine, and then, in early February 2024, to just seven. Curiously, there is no mention of any of this on the Academy of Sciences website, which suggests that the mission and its objectives may have been taken over by the Lukashenko's office.

Although Marina Vasilevskaya, and her back-up, Dr Anastasia Lenkova, arrived at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in July 2023, eight months before the planned launch, they followed accelerated the three-month training schedule designed for the movie-makers who participated in the Soyuz MS-19 flight in 2021. 

Unlike the movie crews, the duo completed their training with their Russian commanders as two person teams, with the Belarusians taking the flight engineer one seats. The two NASA astronauts being ferried to join ISS Expeditions 70/71, joined the training flow in February 2024.

In early November 2023, in an interview with Belarusian media, veteran cosmonaut Valery Tokarev said that Vasilevskaya was ‘psychologically and physically ready to fly’ which suggests that the remaining months before the launch would be spent on preparing the experimental programme. 

It is notable that the Belarusian media refers to the two women as 'cosmonauts', whilst the Russian media calls them 'spaceflight participants.'

There is obviously a huge political and propaganda element to the flight, and its timing, given Belarus’ close collaboration with Russia during its war on Ukraine, even though the mission was initiated before February 2022. This has already manifested itself in the two cosmonauts’ first official task, which was to accept a flag from the Belarusian Olympic Committee, which is to be taken to the ISS as part of their personal baggage allowance. Belarus is currently banned (alongside Russia) from entering a team in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The Olympic Committee is presided over by Alexander Lukashenko's son, Viktor.

The lack of broader information about the flight has even attracted comment from Oleg Novitsky's wife, Yulia, who is a Russian journalist. She expressed surprise when describing the training and preparations as being conducted in 'the strictest secrecy'. 

During a meeting with Lukashenko in January 2024, on their last visit to friends and family before the flight, the dictator asked, ‘Have you changed your minds about going into space?’ But both women confirmed that they were ready, and that the spaceflight would definitely take place, as planned. He then presented them with flowers and watches.

Independent Belarusian media, mostly based in Poland, have reported the preparations for the planned flight in a more jocular style, giving very few details, and under headlines such as 'Belavia stewardess will go into space on March 21st' .

With just over four weeks to go until the launch, we'd expect a more regular flow ot information to appear and we will update this blog, as it happens.

We are currently working on profiles and backstories for the two Belarusian women, Marina Vasilevskaya and Anastasia Lenkova, and details of their training and their thoughts about the flight, and we'll publish these, through here, in the coming days. 

Words - Tony Quine January 2024 (Updated February 2024)

Photos - GCTC Press Office/NASA