Belarus selects 29 candidates for astronaut training ahead of Russia-backed ISS mission

Russian Space Agency Roscosmos revealed that Belarus has submitted 29 names who would be trained as astronauts for their flight to the International Space Station (ISS). This selection is a part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's commitment to sending a Belarusian astronaut to space in a Russian rocket.

In a post from Roscosmos on Telegram, the agency revealed that the names were submitted last week and the next steps of astronaut selection will be taken on the sidelines of the exhibition "National Security, Belarus-2022" from June 22-25 in Minsk.

Russia to launch Belarusian astronauts in 2023

According to the Russian state-owned TASS news agency, Russia will launch one Belarusian astronaut in the fall of 2023. Earlier in mid-June, Roscosmos Director-General Dmitry Rogozin had said that Moscow has no influence over the selection of the names and it depends entirely on the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The plan is to launch a Belarusian astronaut for a short trip to the International Space Station and ensure a safe return in a Russian Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft.

Earlier, Rogozin had revealed that one of the two Russian cosmonauts currently aboard the ISS will stay longer than planned to receive his Belarusian counterpart. The Roscosmos head, however, said that the decision on cosmonaut's long stay will be taken only after Belarus announces its candidates. Russian President Putin had ordered the preparation of a mission in April to launch a Belarus citizen to space in order to advance space partnership with Minsk. 

Apart from Russia's neighbour, Moscow has also reached out to China for space cooperations after it foiled its relations with major space agencies such as NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Ever since Russia launched an attack on Ukraine, ESA, along with JAXA has announced to suspend science missions indefinitely. Most recently, Europe revealed to have suspended the joint mission to Mars along with a triad of Moon missions as a sign of protest against the Ukraine war.