SpaceX Crew-5 mission: Anna Kikina to become 1st Russian cosmonaut to ride Dragon capsule

NASA and Roscosmos are preparing to send the first cosmonaut from Russia to the International Space Station (ISS) in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft next year. According to a report by Space.com, the cosmonaut selected for this endeavour is Anna Kikina who will be launched under SpaceX's Crew-5 mission and this will happen no sooner than the fall of 2022. Interestingly, Kikina is the only active female cosmonaut representing the Russian Federation. 

Anna Kikina's journey ahead

The Russian cosmonaut has been named as a member of SpaceX's Crew-5 which also includes NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Kikina has joined the trio for the cargo resupply mission CRS-24 to the space station, and will undergo training for the upcoming launch. Addressing the media recently, Joel Montalbano, NASA's International Space Station (ISS) program manager said as per Space.com.

The plan is to fly a cosmonaut on the Crew-5 mission next fall and then launch a NASA astronaut on an upcoming Soyuz mission. The agency is currently finalising those plans through government agreements. 

Roscosmos has named Kikina as the fourth member and according to Montalbano, one astronaut has already started training at the SpaceX facilities, however, he did not confirm the selection of Kikina. Reportedly, the director-general of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin has promised a seat to an American astronaut in the Soyuz spacecraft in return for a ride in SpaceX's Crew Dragon to a Russian. The announcement was reportedly announced first on December 8 and the exchange of seats is a part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP).  

The CCP is a project in which NASA is working with business partners to build rockets and spacecraft. According to the agency, the goal of CCP is to send astronauts to the International Space Station from the United States. As of now, NASA relies on two companies- SpaceX and Boeing, which it selected in 2014, to carry astronauts to the low-Earth orbit and back, although only SpaceX has been capable of the job. 

Sending a Russian cosmonaut in an American spacecraft is being seen as a significant development considering the recent fiasco by Russia after it tested an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile in space. The test drew heavy criticism from the US, the UK and even NASA as the debris created from the destroyed satellite endangered the space station and the seven astronauts living in it. Click here to read more.

Image: Roscosmos