SpaceX scandal. Russian cosmonaut suspected of carrying secret materials

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemiev has been excluded from the crew of next year's SpaceX mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the Russian company Roscosmos reported. According to the media, he is suspected of taking internal SpaceX materials from the US base.

The Roscosmos press office reported that instead of Artemiev, who was to fly to the ISS in the first half of 2026, the mission will include another Russian cosmonaut. Roscosmos justified this by “Artemiev moving to another job.”

However, the Meduza portal, citing the Jura-prosti channel on Telegram and spaceflight analyst Georgy Trishkin, wrote that Artemiev was excluded from the crew because he “took photos of SpaceX engines and other internal SpaceX materials with his phonewhich are not subject to dissemination, and was taken outside the base's territory. According to Jura-prosti, the cosmonaut was also expelled from the USA.

Trishkin told the investigative portal The Insider, citing his sources, that an inter-ministerial investigation has been initiated into the case. He emphasized that NASA did not want a scandal to break out around this matter, so it was not officially announced.

SpaceX's Crew-12 mission is scheduled to transport four people to the ISS in February 2026. As part of the exchange program between NASA and Roscosmos, American astronauts fly to the ISS on Russian Soyuz vehicles, and Russian cosmonauts fly on Crew Dragon ships produced by SpaceX.

Artemiev, 54, is a councilor of the Moscow State Duma and a member of the ruling United Russia party. (PAP)

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