Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev was removed from the Crew-12 team several months before his flight to the ISS. According to unofficial reports, the reason was industrial espionage.
The Crew-12 mission is scheduled to launch in February 2026. It will deliver four members of the 74/75 long-duration expedition to the ISS.
Oleg Artemyev was training for the flight at the SpaceX base in Hawthorne. At the end of November, just 2.5 months before launch, he was unexpectedly replaced by cosmonaut Andrei Fediaev. NASA did not comment on the incident, while Roscosmos limited itself to announcing that he had moved to another job.
According to Insider, the real reason for Artemyev’s dismissal was industrial espionage. It is alleged that the cosmonaut violated the rules governing the export of American military technology, ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations), by photographing SpaceX technical documentation and then “taking” the secret information on his phone.
The incident has already led to the launch of an interagency investigation. However, due to considerations of prestige, NASA is unlikely to publicly acknowledge the fact of espionage or any other questionable actions by Artemyev.
It should be noted that this is far from the first scandalous incident involving Oleg Artemyev, who is also a member of the Moscow City Duma and a member of United Russia. During his previous flight, he unfurled the flags of the so-called DPR and LPR on the ISS.
