A few weeks ago, we wrote about the confused state of space crew planning for the three Soyuz flights planned to visit the ISS, this year. (Soyuz plans unclear as Gagarin 60th Anniversary approaches ). This was comfortably our fastest read Blog yet, with well over 1000 views in the first 24 hours. So, now that the picture is a little clearer, it’s appropriate to summarise how plans have now evolved and been clarified.
Last week, Roscosmos made two announcements about the plans
for Soyuz MS-18 (April) and Soyuz MS-19 (October). Firstly, after several weeks
of rumours, it was confirmed that NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei would join the
crew of MS-19, flying with Oleg Novitisky and Peter Dubrov. As anticipated the
deal was brokered by Axiom Space, with the Russians apparently receiving a seat
on an American spacecraft, in 2023, in return, with no money actually changing
hands.
The unlucky cosmonaut who loses his seat is Sergei Korsakov,
and the first planned all-Russian crew to visit the ISS, is also broken up.
Korsakov now seems likely to become the first Russian go into space on a new
generation American craft, as there is a vacant seat on USCV-3, due to launch
in September, although this assignment is unlikely to be confirmed until after
USCV-1 has returned safely in early May.
The second announcement concerned the proposed ‘Movie in
Space’ announced last October which we covered here but about which little had been heard in
the intervening three months. Considering the apparent lack of available Soyuz seats,
the uncertain financial arrangements, and a certain degree of political and
scientific opposition, many space-watchers had expected the project to quietly
fade away.
However, the plans have been firmed up, significantly, with
two seats on Soyuz MS-19 now being assigned to the project. One of these should
be occupied by the film’s Director and Screenwriter, Klim Shipenko, and the
other by an, as yet, unidentified actress. First Channel, the TV company behind
the project have identified 20 candidates from an applicant pool of 3000.
Incidentally, this is around six times the number of applications received for
the last call for professional cosmonauts!
These twenty finalists will now be put through medical, physical and psychological assessments to see whichof them is suitable to go into space. The Cosmonaut Training Centre will undertake this work, and will have the final say, on who flies, in October. Shipenko has said that he also needs to ungo this process, which he has started, but not yet completed. The women are mostly professional actresses, but First Channel have also said that several come from other backgrounds; a pilot, a parachutist, a psychologist, a scientific researcher. These woman have all passed the artistic audition, and are presumably included as ‘insurance’, just in case none of the professionals make it through the demanding cosmonaut tests.
Here at the Space Sleuthing Blog, we
have worked with contacts in Russia and elsewhere, and we have identified most
of these twenty finalists, and this will be the subject of a separate Blog, in the coming days. Shipenko has said that the actress-cosmonaut and a back-up will be named in early-April, although that seems rather optimistic, bearing in mind that some of the candidates don't yet have a date for their medicals to start.
The commander of Soyuz MS-19 will be Anton Shkaplerov, and
he will remain in ISS for an extended stay. The movie people will return to Earth, after a stay of twelve
days, with Oleg Novitisky, aboard Soyuz MS-18. This movie related crew will now
take the title of the ‘first all-Russian' crew, to visit ISS.
Dubrov and Vande Hei will remain on ISS after October, and will return on Soyuz MS-19, when they are relieved by Soyuz MS-21, in early 2022. Pavel Vlasov, Head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre has said that they ‘won’t be completing a double shift’, a reference to a twelve month flight, suggesting a return well before April 2022.
Before Shkaplerov, Dubrov and Vande Hei make that return, there will be a twelve day visiting mission, the long anticipated double-tourist flight Soyuz MS-20. The detailed plans for this final Soyuz of 2021, MS-20, still remain unannounced. The mission has been arranged by Space Adventures, and was initially to be the first Soyuz flight with two paying Spaceflight Participants. However, Soyuz MS-19, which will now have two non-professional passengers onboard rather dilutes this claim, albeit that the movie crew are not paying for their seats.
It has been clear, for many months, that the commander will
be experienced cosmonaut, Alexander Misurkin, who has worked on the development of modified Soyuz control
interfaces, to enable the craft to be flown by the commander alone. However, it
now seems that these techniques may need to be debuted on Soyuz MS-19, as that
will also have only have one professional cosmonaut onboard.
The two Spaceflight Participants (SFP) have not yet been
revealed officially, but it has been hinted that an announcement is due, later
this month. The Austrian aviator Johanna Maislinger has been linked to this
flight, for well over a year, and Space Adventures have always been very cagey
when asked about her, never confirming, but never denying anything. Maislinger herself has remained totally silent about her plans and dreams, ignoring, or side-stepping media questions and interest.
However, in March 2021, she appeared on a German TV documentary, which followed her undertaking her job as a Boeing 777 airline captain. Although there was no dialogue about spaceflight, there was an intriguing on-screen caption "Will irgendwenn als Astronautin ins All" - "Wants someday, as an astronaut, to go into space"
However, we now know that in late 2020, Maislinger had a mishap, in which she sustained multiple fractures. Although she returned to her flying job, in January 2021, it is possible that these injuries have derailed her spaceflight plans. Even if she has to relinquish her place, Johanna Maislinger’s prominence, in the media, during the build up to this flight has probably cemented her place in Space Tourism folklore!
For many months, rumours suggested that the second SFP would be a Japanese woman, and in early March, the name of Yumi Matsutoya, a famous singer and musician, in her own counrty, emerged. It was possible to triangulate this name through sources in Japan, Russia and Europe. Space Adventures gave 'no comment' in response to sharing Matsutoya’s name with them.
She was also identifed and reported in the Russian media by respected agency RIA Novosti. The only factor which throws up a doubt about this name, is that Matsutoya is 67 years old, which would make her, comfortably, the oldest woman in space. However, our Japanese source confirmed that she is known for being very fit and healthy, and she has haboured the dream of spaceflight since visiting the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre back in 1990, when the above image was taken.
Of course, we cannot rule out the scenario that it my have suited Space Adventures to allow these names to circulate widely, in order to deflect attention from their other clients. However, this would not explain how, or why, Maislinger and Matsutoya themselves have also allowed their names to become linked to Soyuz MS-20!
It is likely that Space Adventures will also want to name at least one back-up SFP. They will want to a degreehave operational, and financial, resilience within what is a complex, high value financial and business transation.
With plans for Soyuz MS-18 and Soyuz MS-19 now fairly clear,
it would will be good to see the Soyuz MS-20 crew, and their objectives while on the ISS, revealed shortly.
© Tony Quine March 2021
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