Soyuz MS-17
Soyuz MS-17 is a Soyuz spaceflight planned for October 2020. It will transport three crew members of the Expedition 63 crew the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-17 will be the 145th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft crewed. The crew will consist of a Russian commander and a Russian and American flight engineer. The mission may mark the first use of a new "ultrafast" two-orbit rendezvous flight plan with the Soyuz, which will see Soyuz MS-17 arrive at the ISS within approximately three hours of launch.Crew
Backup crew
Reserve crew
Crew notes
Early planning had listed Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Chub as the mission's Flight Engineer 2, pending a NASA decision on whether they would purchase more seats on the Soyuz. In May 2020, NASA purchased a Soyuz seat and assigned NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins to the Flight Engineer 2 position, backed up by astronaut Mark Vande Hei.
Originally Russian cosmonauts Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner were set to fly as Commander and Flight Engineer 1 respectively. In February 2020, however, the two cosmonauts were moved to the Soyuz MS-16 flight due to medical issues with the commander of Soyuz MS-16, Nikolai Tikhonov. Ivanishin and Vagner were replaced by Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov. Tikhonov and Babkin may fly on Soyuz MS-18.
Reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic, Roscosmos implemented a two-cosmonaut reserve crew to ensure the flight could go on with no delays, in the unlikely event both the prime and backup crews fall ill. It has not been confirmed whether NASA plans to add an astronaut of their own to the reserve crew.
