A top astronaut has allegedly been removed from a NASA SpaceX mission following a major rule breach.
The cosmonaut in question reportedly broke a US law, according to Russian media reports.
Oleg Artemyev was expected to be part of the SpaceX Crew 12 mission in early February next year, which departed for the International Space Station.
However, in the months leading up to the mission going ahead, it was announced that he has been replaced by cosmonaut Andrei Fedyayev.
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This was confirmed by Russian Federal Space Agency officials on Tuesday (December 2).
The statement went on to detail how Artemyev was ‘transferring to another position’.
However, rocket launch analyst Georgy Trishkin has claimed that through sources, he discovered that the astronaut had been removed from the mission for a very different reason, as Artemyev had reportedly broken a security protocol.
He had allegedly photographed SpaceX documentation and then ‘used his phone’ to export classified information.
Sources told The Insider an interdepartmental investigation has since been launched.
Photographing documentation goes against International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), a strict US law controlling the sharing or selling of defense related technology and its data, the FAA explains.
ITAR covers physical items such as weapons, satellites and aerospace hardware, as well as the technical data and documentation linked to defence and space technology.
Some space and aerospace technologies can potentially be used for the military, so can be classified as ‘defence articles’ under ITAR.
Exposing their technical documents or images without permission constitutes a security risk.
The source told The Insider: “My contacts confirm that a violation occurred and an interdepartmental investigation has been launched.
“Removing someone from a mission two and a half months before the mission without a clear explanation is more of an indirect sign, but it's indicative.
“It’s very difficult to imagine a situation in which an experienced cosmonaut could inadvertently commit such a gross violation.”
Artemyev was selected as part of the cosmonaut group RKK Energia in 2003 and has had three stints on the ISS.
He developed and tested Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) equipment before his first space mission in 2014.
Artemyev served as a flight engineer and spent 169 days in orbit on the ISS as part of Soyuz TMA-12M.
He embarked on his second flight in 2018, spending 196 days in orbit, and his third mission in 2022 as station commander where he spent 194 days on the ISS.
LADbible Group has contacted SpaceX, NASA and Roscosmos for comment.