posted 07-31-2020 03:31 PM               

Cosmonaut Nikolai Tikhonov dropped out of the cosmonaut corps

On July 31, 2020, the employment contract with test cosmonaut Nikolai Tikhonov was terminated.

Nikolai Tikhonov was enrolled in the cosmonaut corps in 2006. In June 2009, after completing a course of general space training, at a meeting of the Interdepartmental Qualification Commission (IQC), he was awarded the qualification "test cosmonaut." Later, he underwent training as part of the specialization and improvement group under the ISS program.

From June 2015 to October 2016, he trained as part of the ISS-49/50 backup crew as a flight engineer of the Soyuz MS-02 TPK and an ISS-49/50 flight engineer.

From December 2017 to April 2018, N. Tikhonov was trained as a member of the ISS-57/58 prime crew as a flight engineer of the Soyuz MS-10 TPK. The composition of the crew was changed due to the revision of the ISS flight program.

From June 2018 to February 2020, the cosmonaut was trained as part of the ISS-63 crew as the commander of the Soyuz MS-16 TPK and the ISS-63 flight engineer.

From February to July 2020, he was trained as part of the specialization and improvement group under the ISS program.

N. Tikhonov made the decision to leave the cosmonaut corps in connection with the new data on the state of health.

Currently, the Roscosmos cosmonaut corps includes 31 people, of which 23 are active cosmonauts and eight are candidates for test cosmonauts.

posted 07-31-2020 06:08 PM               

He waited 10 years for his first assignment only to see it vanish because of budget cuts. He then was assigned again, but was yanked because the hardware he was trained to install was delayed.

Finally, two decades after becoming a cosmonaut, his dream of flying in space is about to become a reality and a random accident grounds him. He was penciled in for another flight, but instead he is medically disqualified.

posted 07-31-2020 07:47 PM            

Apparently, his eye injury is a long term serious issue; and we can only wish him well in the endeavours he may choose to pursue.

posted 08-01-2020 05:22 PM               

A well educated young man, who would like to push his frontiers to something bigger. He trains and learns years to fulfill his dreams. Then, some days before his first flight into space, he is abandoned from the crew due to medical problems. This must be the ultimate nightmare for every rookie spaceflyer.

Compare this to an athlete who trains several years to reach for gold at an olympic marathon. At kilometer 41,7 this athlete is in leading position on his last lap in the Olympic arena. The audience in the round screams, claps and stomp their feet. On the last 100m, the athlete collapses in muscle spasm. Medics take him to the medic center for evaluation of his health status. He didn't finish his race and after that Olympic race he couldn't qualify again for the Olympic team.

What a shock. I think everyone can comprehend the feelings of a rookie spaceflyer who is released from the cosmonaut corps due to medical reasons.

It is said that Nikolai Tikhonov is a reader of the collectSPACE forum. He is one of us.

So Nikolai Vladimirovich, I think everyone who contributes to this forum kept the fingers crossed for you to be part of a future crew to the ISS. And I also think that everyone in this forum also keeps the fingers crossed for a improvement of your health status.