Flight crew assignments

[ZachS09]

The reason for a third CFT astronaut was because Boeing wanted an employee of their own to fly aboard Starliner. In this case, it was Chris Ferguson.

But since Ferguson dropped out, I don’t see a need for a third crew member. A two-person crew is sufficient enough to carry out CFT similar to Demo-2.

[John_Marshall]

Who is the leading contender for the third seat on the first Boeing Starliner mission?

I had wondered if it had been long enough that they might be able to add Eric Boe back in.

I was also wondering--does anyone know anything recent about the status of the seat that went to Axiom in the MS-18 deal and when that might be?

[vp.]

The reason for a third CFT astronaut was because Boeing wanted an employee of their own to fly aboard Starliner. In this case, it was Chris Ferguson.

But since Ferguson dropped out, I don’t see a need for a third crew member. A two-person crew is sufficient enough to carry out CFT similar to Demo-2.

Given the drift of the first manned Starliner flight, perhaps Ferguson's family worries will be over and he will rejoin the crew.

[Rian]

If they do indeed have a 3rd seat for BOE-CFT I would imagine it's either announced in May during OFT2

[hektor]

Who is the leading contender for the third seat on the first Boeing Starliner mission?

I had wondered if it had been long enough that they might be able to add Eric Boe back in.

I was also wondering--does anyone know anything recent about the status of the seat that went to Axiom in the MS-18 deal and when that might be?

The seat from MS-18 has morphed into a UAE astronaut six month stay on board the ISS in 2023 on Crew-6.

[Rian]

Who is the leading contender for the third seat on the first Boeing Starliner mission?

I had wondered if it had been long enough that they might be able to add Eric Boe back in.

I was also wondering--does anyone know anything recent about the status of the seat that went to Axiom in the MS-18 deal and when that might be?

The seat from MS-18 has morphed into a UAE astronaut six month stay on board the ISS in 2023 on Crew-6.

Astronaut hasn't been announced yet but I'm assuming it's Sultan Al Neyadi

[John_Marshall]

The seat from MS-18 has morphed into a UAE astronaut six month stay on board the ISS in 2023 on Crew-6.

Oh, interesting! Would this be instead of or in addition to a cosmonaut (presumably Fedyayev)? I had assumed Satoshi Furukawa was up for Crew-6.

[ddspaceman]

https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/1519924242351104001

[hektor]

The seat from MS-18 has morphed into a UAE astronaut six month stay on board the ISS in 2023 on Crew-6.

Oh, interesting! Would this be instead of or in addition to a cosmonaut (presumably Fedyayev)? I had assumed Satoshi Furukawa was up for Crew-6.

The logic would be that there is at least one Russian on Dragon with the seat swap agreement. We'll see.

[John_Marshall]

The logic would be that there is at least one Russian on Dragon with the seat swap agreement. We'll see.

That's what I kind of figured, but since the UAE astronauts were originally supposed to fly with Russia, I wasn't sure.

[Zed_Noir]

The logic would be that there is at least one Russian on Dragon with the seat swap agreement. We'll see.

That's what I kind of figured, but since the UAE astronauts were originally supposed to fly with Russia, I wasn't sure.

Maybe UAE and JAXA has come to an agreement to insert the UAE astronaut ahead of Furukawa. It would avoid the need to pay Roscosmos in the near future.

[John_Marshall]

Maybe UAE and JAXA has come to an agreement to insert the UAE astronaut ahead of Furukawa. It would avoid the need to pay Roscosmos in the near future.

That would make sense.

[Tomness]

The logic would be that there is at least one Russian on Dragon with the seat swap agreement. We'll see.

That's what I kind of figured, but since the UAE astronauts were originally supposed to fly with Russia, I wasn't sure.

Maybe UAE and JAXA has come to an agreement to insert the UAE astronaut ahead of Furukawa. It would avoid the need to pay Roscosmos in the near future.

Crew 6 would be NASA, USOS, Russia, UAE/Axiom. Axiom bought a Russia Seat and traded it to Nasa for a Crew Seat. So Soyuz would be Russia, Russia, USOS if they do the seat swap. Who knows, Russia might sell one of their seats.

[ddspaceman]

GT: Cosmonaut Andrei Babkin leaves the Roskosmos detachment (TsPK named after Yu. A. Gagarin), following Alexander Misurkin and Alexander Skvortsov. Unfortunately, unlike them, Andrei never flew into space.



https://twitter.com/Aleksandr_Space/status/1521201409026404352

[Joachim]

[SMS]

Tikhonov portrait from 2016:

[Skyrocket]

Tikhonov portrait from 2016:

It is not Tikhonov, but also Babkin.

[ddspaceman]

https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/1521738703009374208

[ddspaceman]

GT: Clarification about test cosmonaut Andrei Babkin, he remains in the Detachment and continues training, despite some medical restrictions. Information received earlier has not been confirmed. I spoke personally with Andrew.

I really hope that justice will prevail and he will be able to fly into space.
 TsPK im. Yu. A. Gagarin is Terra incognita, especially now, when cosmonauts cannot comment without the consent of Roscosmos.

 Photo from the event of the Federation of Cosmonautics in St. Petersburg.

https://twitter.com/Aleksandr_Space/status/1522209581899911168

[hektor]

Axiom Space has announced today Walter Villadei as back-up crew member of Ax-2.