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 13th 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 7th 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 15th 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 12th May. Unfortunately, Sofya Arzhakovskaya could not attend as her son was ill, and she had to quarantine. The following day, 13th 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 24th 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 30th 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.
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