Suspected espionage: Why NASA removed veteran Russian astronaut from SpaceX Crew-12

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has removed a veteran Russian astronaut from the upcoming SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Oleg Artemyev was allegedly involved in taking pictures of sensitive SpaceX equipment and classified documents and then sharing elsewhere via his phone, thus allegedly violating the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), reports the Daily Mail.

For context, ITAR is a set of U.S. government rules that tightly control the export, sharing, or transmission of sensitive defense-related technologies, information, and items, including spacecraft components and technical blueprints.

The veteran astronaut has already 560 days in space as he was part of 2014, 2018 and 2022 NASA space missions.

The cosmonaut has been replaced with another Russian astronaut, Andrey Fedyaev.

Russian official space agency Roscosmos said that the replacement made due to transfer of Artemyev to another job.

The Insider claims that an international probe has been launched against the accused and if proved that he took photos to share with a foreign entity to harm the United States, it’ll would be considered espionage. This can result in nearly 20 years of prison time.

Space Industry analyst Trishkin said, “My sources have confirmed that a an ITAR violation has occurred and interdepartmental investigation has been launched.”

NASA and the Elon Musk-owned SpaceX have not commented on the matter.