Hitting your little toe in the corner of your dresser or stepping in a puddle before arriving at work is nothing like the misadventures of Andrei Babkin.
14 years of training for nothing
Andrei Babkin is known to be “the unluckiest cosmonaut in the world”. He spent 14 years training to travel into space. Since 2010, he has been a member of the Russian cosmonaut corps and has been selected three times for various expeditions to the International Space Station (ISS). However, for one reason or another, it has always been sidelined.
On his last opportunity, his place was taken by none other than an actress and a director who, after only four months of training, were able to leave for the ISS to shoot a film entitled The Challenge. It was his last hope, because today the Russian space agency Roscosmos asked him to resign.
The misadventures of Andrei Babkin
As previously reported, Andrei Babkin was selected in 2010 to become part of the Roscosmos cosmonaut corps. Shortly thereafter, he was assigned to his first flight to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 59/60. However, due to Nauka module delays and budget cuts, Babkin was unable to be part of the crew.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Common (left) and YouTube (right)
In 2019, Roscosmos again selected it for a new mission to the ISS. This time, Andrei Babkin was to fly on a Soyuz spacecraft. His companions were another Russian cosmonaut, Nikolai Tikhonov, and the Japanese Akihiko Hoshide. But once again, he didn’t steal. This time, it’s because his compatriot was injured in the eye. Roscosmos then decided to change the entire crew and Andrei Babkin was reassigned to the replacement corps.
Is the third time the good one? In 2020, Andrei Babkin got his third chance. This time he had been selected for Expedition 66 with his partner Mukhtar Aimakhanov. The cosmonauts had prepared for a year to leave aboard a Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft for the International Space Station. But something completely unexpected happened: Babkin and Aimakhanov were replaced by actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko, who were going to direct the first ever film shot in space: The Challenge.
And it’s even more hurtful than the previous times. Unlike Andrei Babkin, who spent more than ten years training for a trip to space, Peresild and Shipenko needed only four months to be ready. The director said in an interview the day before he left for space: “People should know that you don’t have to spend a year of your life preparing for the flight, it can be done in four months”.
The final blow
Unfortunately, there will be no fourth chance for Babkin, who was passed over by the Cosmonaut training center because he suffered from bilateral pansinusitis, chronic nasal congestion, reports the portal Gazeta.Ru. To avoid incapacity, the cosmonaut underwent surgery in 2022. However, Russia no longer wants him in the team.
The same source claims that Andrei Babkin received an offer to serve as deputy scientific commander. In return, the 55-year-old cosmonaut will have to submit his letter of resignation from the human spaceflight corps and give up his dream of visiting the International Space Station..
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