Russian cosmonaut suspended from SpaceX mission due to data leak – media
3 December 2025 06:34
The American company SpaceX has excluded Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev from the Crew-12 mission scheduled for February 15, 2026, to fly to the International Space Station. This was reported by The Insider, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
According to the publication, the reason was a possible violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which govern the export of US military technology. No official comments have been received from the parties so far.
Russian telegram channels report that the astronaut was suspended after he allegedly took photos of SpaceX documentation and equipment during training at the Hawthorne, California, base.
According to the reports, these photos were transferred to his phone. The reports say that Andrey Fedyaev will allegedly be appointed to replace Artemyev in the SpaceX Crew-12 crew.
– My contacts confirm that there was a violation and an interagency investigation has been launched. The removal from the flight two and a half months before the mission without a clear explanation of the reasons is more of an indirect sign, but it is indicative. “It is very difficult to imagine a situation in which an experienced cosmonaut could inadvertently commit such a gross violation,” said Georgy Trishkin, a rocket launch analyst.
We are talking about Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, who has been a member of the Moscow City Duma and a member of the United Russia party since 2019. According to Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Artemyev has made three space flights and spent 560 days in space.
