Veteran cosmonaut pulled from joint Russian–U.S. mission after allegedly photographing sensitive SpaceX hardware

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev has been removed from the Crew-12 mission, a Roscosmos flight to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX and scheduled for the first half of 2026, according to Roscosmos’s press service. His spot will be taken by Andrey Fedyaev, who now appears on the mission’s crew roster on the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center’s website. According to unconfirmed reports on social media, Artemyev photographed items at a SpaceX facility without permission.

Roscosmos stated that the decision to replace Artemyev “was made in connection with his transition to another job.” What that entails — and whether Artemyev will remain with the space agency — is unclear.

According to reports on Telegram and rocket-launch analyst Georgy Trishkin, Artemyev violated export controls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations by using his phone to photograph SpaceX engines and other proprietary materials without permission. He also allegedly removed the images from the facility. At the time of this writing, Artemyev has reportedly been “booted out of America,” as one source put it.

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Speaking to The Insider, Trishkin said his sources have confirmed that an interagency probe is underway: “Removing someone from a flight two and a half months before the mission without a clear explanation is more of an indirect sign, but a telling one. It’s hard to imagine an experienced cosmonaut unintentionally committing a violation this egregious.” Trishkin also claimed that NASA does not want the Artemyev scandal to become public. The U.S. space agency hasn’t officially commented on any wrongdoing.

Oleg Artemyev, 54, is a trained cosmonaut and pilot and a recipient of the Hero of the Russian Federation honor. In total, he has completed three space flights and spent 560 days in orbit. Since 2019, he has served as a deputy of the Moscow City Duma, and he is a member of the United Russia party.

Crew-12 is the twelfth crewed flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft under NASA’s program. The vehicle is expected to ferry four crew members to the International Space Station in February 2026.

The mission falls under the seat-exchange program between NASA and Roscosmos. Under this arrangement, American astronauts travel to the ISS aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft, while Russian cosmonauts fly on American Crew Dragon vehicles.