The Russian federal space agency Roscosmos launched a Soyuz 2.1a with three cosmonauts to the International Space Station (ISS) Friday, March 18 at 11:55 am EDT (15:55 UTC) aboard the Soyuz MS-21 mission.
Utilizing a fast-track rendezvous, the all-Roscosmos crew docked – manually – to the station approximately three hours after liftoff to start a six-month, long-duration mission.
Soyuz MS-21 is the first crew flight for Russia of 2022 and will mark the first time in the ISS’s history that a Soyuz crew mission launches with three Roscosmos cosmonauts and no international partner astronauts.
All Russian missions to the station — such as the October 2021 film crew — have occurred before, but never an all-Roscosmos cosmonaut crew.
Originally, Soyuz MS-21 was under consideration between NASA and Roscosmos for a crew seat swap — with a NASA astronaut launching on Soyuz MS-21 and a Russian cosmonaut launching on the SpaceX Crew-4 mission.
#Soyuz2.1a rocket has been rolled out in the morning (this time without additional letters on the transporter), and now stays vertical on Pad 31. The launch of #SoyuzMS21 with Oleg Artemiev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov is scheduled for March 18, 15:55 UTC. pic.twitter.com/qai9nDcVCw
— Katya Pavlushchenko (@katlinegrey) March 15, 2022
But in October 2021, NASA and Roscosmos agreed to delay the crew swap to the Soyuz MS-22 and Crew-5 missions later in 2022, freeing up a seat on the Soyuz MS-21 mission for a third Russian cosmonaut.
Unfortunately, the all-Russian mission comes amid heightened geopolitical tension stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month; however, the timing is coincidental.
After lifting off from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz 2.1a rocket carrying the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft and crew will pitch and roll onto an azimuth to achieve a 200 km, 51.6-degree inclination orbit.
Just under nine minutes after liftoff, the rocket will reach orbit, and the crew will dock with the station’s Prichal node approximately three hours 10 minutes later — though dockings are automated and usually occur a few minutes ahead of the published timeline.
The Crew:
Soyuz MS-21 is commanded by veteran cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev.
A hug for Soyuz. Soyuz MS-08 Commander Oleg Artemyev gives the spacecraft a loving embrace. (Credit: Roscosmos)
Artemyev was born on December 28, 1970, in the city of Riga, Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (SRR). At the age of 19, he graduated from the Tallinn Polytechnic School and immediately entered service with the Soviet Army.
After his military service, Artemyev studied low-temperature technology and physics at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, graduating in 1998. Immediately after, he began work at RKK Energia, developing testing procedures for Extravehicular Activity (EVA) equipment at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
He was also a member of the pre-launch processing team for the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station — the third module of the station to be launched, and the module which provides most of the Station’s life support services and serves as the backbone of the Russian Operating Segment (ROS).
He was selected as part of the 15th RKK Energia cosmonaut group on May 29, 2003.
In 2007, his ground-based cosmonaut duties shifted from short-term spaceflight training to long-term objectives when he participated in a 15-day Mars training program, and again in 2009 when he participated in a 105-day Mars isolation program — both of which served as precursors to the MARS-500 program.
Artemyev in Cupola, with Cygnus grappled tightly by the SSRMS in the background. (Credit: NASA)
Between 2010 and 2011, he was assigned to work at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as a descent module operator for the Soyuz-TMA-01M mission. During that same period, he processed the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft for launch in 2011.
Artemyev was then assigned to his first spaceflight as a member of the Expedition 39 and 40 long-duration crews aboard the station. Artemyev launched on his first mission to space on March 25, 2014, aboard Soyuz TMA-12M.
Once aboard ISS, Artemyev spent five months on the outpost before returning to Earth on September 11, 2014.
With his first spaceflight, Artemyev achieved 169 days 5 hours 6 minutes in space.
For his second flight, Artemyev served as Commander of Soyuz MS-08 and joined the station as part of Expedition 55.
The Soyuz MS-21 crew. Left to right: Korsakov, Artemyev, and Matveev. (Credit: Roscosmos)
With his two previous flights, Artemyev has a total time in space of 365 days 23 hours 5 minutes.
Joining Artemyev on Soyuz MS-21 are two first-time cosmonauts: Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov.
Denis Matveev was born on April 23, 1983, in Leningrad and earned a degree in computing and networks in 2006 from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University.
Thereafter, he began work at Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia as a research assistant before he was selected for cosmonaut training in 2010 and became a test cosmonaut in July 2012.
He was assigned to his first mission, Soyuz MS-06, but was replaced by Ivan Vagner (who also ultimately never flew on the mission).
Первые экзамены сданы 💪
Экипажи МКС-67 (@OlegMKS, @denis_mks, @serg_korsakov) приступили к экзаменационным комплексным тренировкам, по результатам которых будет принято решение о продолжении их подготовки к полету на космодроме Байконур: https://t.co/PkQhmSODBi pic.twitter.com/BOpvJrUivk
— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) February 22, 2022
The final crewmember on Soyuz MS-21 is Sergey Korsakov.
Born September 1, 1984, in Frunze, Kirghiz SSR, Korsakov likewise graduated from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University — as both of his other crewmembers have — in 2006 with a degree in rocketry.
He was selected for cosmonaut training in 2012 and appointed as a test cosmonaut in 2014.
He was assigned to his first mission, Soyuz MS-18, but was replaced by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei before subsequently being assigned to Soyuz MS-21.
(Lead image: A Soyuz spacecraft approaches the International Space Station on a previous mission. Credit: NASA)