Norwegian Continues Training for Soyuz Flight to ISS & Spacewalk Amid Western Sanctions Over Ukraine; 18 Norwegians Advance in ESA Astronaut Selection
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
A Norwegian industrial designer is continuing to train to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Roscosmos Soyuz spacecraft and perform a commercial spacewalk amid Western sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Nima Shahinian has been training at Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City for a voyage to ISS at the end of next year. Shahinian — who is an industrial designer lead at Designit Oslo, a father of two and an Afghanistan veteran — is a client of the U.S. company Space Adventures.
In an Instagram post in Norwegian, Nima Shahinian said his training has continued without interruption. Below is a translation of his statement via Google Translate.
I will not undertake to be an expert on the conflict in Ukraine, but in these dark hours we are all witnessing a frightening change of course in European history.
With contempt, we follow what is happening to our fellow human beings, not only by virtue of being citizens of Europe, but by virtue of being citizens of our beautiful planet.
Many have asked me how this situation affects my space program, and whether I have taken a stand on the conflict, and therefore I post this post now:
I condemn all war, including this one. But as things are today, the space program itself is not affected by the conflict, and my training continues as planned until further notice. The people I have worked with in the GCTC (Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center) are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. Their professionalism, personal and professional integrity, human character and beating heart for a peaceful spaceflight, where inspiration, curiosity, exploration and science are in focus are heartwarming. My instructors, interpreters and all other support staff in GCTC are my friends, and we have close ties. Not least, we have a common vision of what space travel should be about: a unison belief in what kind of wonders we humans can achieve when we come together, regardless of race, color, gender, orientation, nationality or geopolitics, because from space one sees only one planet, and not borders and a divided humanity, but us humans as one unit.
It’s not clear whether his bid to become the first Norwegian in space will be affected by sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. NASA has said that cooperation on civil space programs such as the International Space Station would not be affected by the U.S. sanctions.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian Space Agency reports that 18 Norwegians — 15 men and three women — made it through the first stage of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) astronaut selection process. The Norwegians were among 1,361 applicants to make it through the initial screening process.
More than 300 Norwegians applied to the astronaut program. ESA received a total of 22,523 valid applications from its 22 member nations.
The second phase of ESA’s astronaut selection will end on March 31.
26 responses to “Norwegian Continues Training for Soyuz Flight to ISS & Spacewalk Amid Western Sanctions Over Ukraine; 18 Norwegians Advance in ESA Astronaut Selection”
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Given the reports (unconfirmed) that are starting to surface of Russia troops deserting and of mutinies on Russia warships there may well be a new government in Russia by then. Using conscripts drafted for a year’s service in a major invasion against a very determined foe, and giving them outdated equipment from the 1980’s to use, may not have been all that smart. This may well turn into a real debacle for Russia.
The worry at this point would be if the Russian units in action now are somewhat second line. If that is a possibility, then it might be that the better units might be committed and properly supported after Ukraine has committed all the forces it has available. This is speculation on a possibility, not knowledge or prediction.
Best wishes Ukraine.
Perhaps, time will tell. The question is if there are enough of those first line units available. The fact that Putin had to reinstate the use of political officers in the units in 2019, which were eliminated after the end of communism, to teach “patriotic values” to the conscripts speaks volumes.
Not arguing. From my reading of Soviet operations in WW2, political officers often degrade the abilities of military units in combat. Troops and commanders that have to second guess themselves due to split command frequently lose a lot of personal initiative. From history, not knowledge of current situation.
Interesting report on CNN… Also the one from the Hindustan Times.
https://edition.cnn.com/eur…
11:28 a.m. ET, March 1, 2022
Russia’s advance on Kyiv is “where it was yesterday,” US official says
From CNN’s Michael Conte and Jeremy Herb
““There has been in the last six days evidence of a certain risk averse behavior by the Russian military,” the official said. “You’ve seen it on the ground, where units are surrendering, sometimes without a fight. And they’ve got, a lot of these soldiers are conscripts, never been in combat before, some of whom we believe weren’t even told they were going to be in combat. So we’re just seeing evidence of a bit of risk aversion.”
https://www.hindustantimes….
Russian soldiers punching holes in their vehicles, crying, firing at each other: Reports
Published on Mar 02, 2022 09:39 AM IST
By hindustantimes.com | Written by Poulomi Ghosh
Putin has a few problems. 1) the black market 2) no will to fight (die for glorious cause) and 3) sloppy command tactics. we will see the US enter soon with the drone wars. no markings please
The Ukrainians seem to be doing okay with Turkish drones so far.
they are slowly but surely being overwhelmed. we have to help them
I fear that, given enough time, the Russians will grind Ukraine into rubble. Something has to change…and soon!
enough time they will. it will be brutal and something the continent has not seen since 45. something has to change. we have to get involved
I don’t think that Biden has it in him. I hope he proves me wrong.
it is the American people who you need to worry about. in a democracy it takes leadership to move people to a war where they dont have a primacy of reason. see WW1. Biden has to think through how to do that and then how this ends. I am not sure how this ends myself. we are in a bad place
To the extent the U.S. is in a bad place it is mostly due to Biden’s disastrous first year in the White House. Giving him another actual war to screw up would not improve our situation.
I think his own party would block any resolution authorizing direct use of U.S. force unless Russia is stupid enough to also attack a bordering NATO nation. Even then, it wouldn’t be easy. The U.S. is doing what it can short of putting actual boots on Ukrainian ground. That should be enough. I really don’t want to have Joe Biden anywhere near calling the shots in an actual war.
We are involved. NATO countries are resupplying Ukraine. No one is resupplying Russia.
It’s far from obvious that the Russians have a lot of time. The Ukrainians continue to bleed them badly and things are even getting frisky back home.
We are helping them. Ukraine is certainly being badly hurt, but overwhelmed may overstate the case. Reports to-date indicate that Russian troops can take secondary cities but not hold them. And the push on Kyiv seems to have bogged down again. The Russians have done a lot of damage and will do more, but that is not equivalent to prevailing.
Well, Putin has already reached back into the USSR’s field manual and sent in troops of non-Slavic ethnicity – Chechens, in this case. The Ukrainians promptly killed the general commanding them.
as I stated in my Space Review piece…its time to end this
there is no going back for Putin…its like Adolf in 44…he either wins or goes away. we should go away. we no longer have common values
the fight in Ukraine is just starting. they are bringing in fresh troops with heavy heavy bombardment. its time to get involved
Once again, we’re already involved.
we will have to get more so
US troops shooting at Russian troops is a sure fire way to start WW3. The fact that I have no doubt the US would win that fire fight is actually the problem, with an unstable megalomaniac so disconnected from reality as Poo tin he would resort to the nuclear option. Whatever their other faults the Soviet leaders were above all else ruthless pragmatists, unfortunately this nutter would appear to be closer to Hitler in his mental state.
thats why we have to take the risk. if we dont he will think he won and keep coming. it will get harder
Or the start of a genuine reformation of Russia that failed to occur after the collapse of the USSR. Just keep the Harvard professors away this time.
If Putin is deposed fairly soon, perhaps this will wind up being more a debacle for him than for Russia – though it has certainly been no walk in the park for Russia to this point either.
It seems this guy is in somewhat the same situation as a lot of Olympic athletes were this year – do you go to Mordor for the Games after it has invaded and ravaged Ithilien or not? Personally, I hope he gets to make the trip. But I think that – absent a complete collapse of the Putin regime – Space Adventures is in for another long dry spell anent Soyuz rides for ISS-bound space tourists.