A few hours ago, the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and after a little more than three hours reached the International Space Station with three new crew members on board. It docked with the Station’s Prichal module. As is becoming increasingly common for crewed trips as well, the ultra-fast track was used which halves the journey duration.
The three new members of the crew of the International Space Station, who complete the last phase of Expedition 66 are:
Oleg Artemyev. Born on December 28, 1970, in Riga, in the then USSR and today Latvia, he graduated from the Tallinn Polytechnic School in 1990 and graduated from the Moscow Bauman Technical University in 1998 in low-temperature physics and technology. Until 2011 he worked at Energia Rocket Space Corporation. In 2003 he was selected as a cosmonaut candidate and started space training. In 2007, he participated in some test phases of the Mars-500 mission, an experiment that was intended to simulate a mission to Mars. It’s his first experience in space. He had already served on the International Space Station as part of the Expedition 39/40, which ended on September 11, 2014, and Expedition 55/56 which ended on October 4, 2018.
Denis Vladimirovich Matveev. Born on April 25, 1983, in the then Leningrad, USSR, he received a degree in computer science from the Moscow Bauman Technical University in 2006. Later, he started working at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City. In 2010, he was selected as a cosmonaut candidate. He’s on his first space mission.
Sergey Vladimirovich Korsakov. Born on September 1, 1984, in the then Frunze, USSR, today Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, he graduated in rocketry from the Moscow Bauman Technical University in 2006. In 2012, he was selected as a cosmonaut candidate. He’s on his first space mission.
Unfortunately, the arrival of the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft came at a time of strong international tensions due to the war in Ukraine. The International Space Station is supposed to remain something of a peaceful oasis where crew members can rely on each other regardless of their nationality. The arrival of the three Russian cosmonauts was greeted as cordially as ever and that’s a good sign.
The fact that the three cosmonauts wore yellow overalls with some blue bits, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, was surprising. The overalls are made quite in advance, so it makes sense to explain that with the simple fact that yellow fabric was available. However, it’s inevitable that at this moment this too is the subject of analysis and speculation.
On the more technical side, the Expedition 66 crew has now been completed but the turnover will continue rather quickly. There are now 10 crew members on the International Space Station but three of them will return to Earth on March 31. The launch of a new group of astronauts is now scheduled for April 19.
