MOSCOW, February 18 Russian cosmonauts Anna Kikina and Andrei Fedyaev, who flew to the International Space Station (ISS) on the American Crew Dragon spacecraft, may not receive the title Hero of Russia, said cosmonautics historian Alexander Zheleznyakov.
Previously, the title of Hero of Russia was awarded to cosmonauts Denis Matveev and Sergei Korsakov, who first went into space as part of the ISS-67 expedition in 2022. Russians Anna Kikina (landed on March 12, 2023) and Andrei Fedyaev (landed on September 4, 2023) have not yet received awards for their first flight. They were delivered to the ISS and returned to Earth by the American ship Crew Dragon under a joint cross-flight program with the United States.
«I think that they will receive some awards, but a hero of Russia is unlikely <…> This is due to the fact that flights on American ships are valued somewhat differently than flights on our Soyuz rockets. Therefore, there will be rewards, but not so significant,” Zheleznyakov said.
He recalled that from 1998 to 2002, Russian cosmonauts were included in the crews of American shuttles under the ISS program. Boris Morukov, who went to the ISS in September 2000 on the Atlantis shuttle, remained the only Russian cosmonaut who did not receive the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. He stayed at the station for 11 days and never flew into space again.
The cosmonautics historian also cited the biography of Fyodor Yurchikhin as an example. From October 7 to October 18, 2002, he flew on the same Atlantis, but received the title of Hero of the Russian Federation only in 2008 after his second flight on the Russian Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft.
At the same time, according to the Roscosmos website, cosmonaut Valery Tokarev received the title of Hero of the Russian Federation in 2000 after flying to the ISS on the American shuttle Discovery; his expedition lasted 9 days 19 hours. Also, cosmonaut Sergei Treshchev became a hero of Russia after his flight on the Endeavor shuttle; he spent 184 days and 22 hours on board the ISS and made one spacewalk.