Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev has been removed from the Crew-12 crew for the upcoming mission to the International Space Station. Accusations of attempting to illegally copy confidential materials from Elon Musk's SpaceX led to his removal, according to sources in the rocket and space industry.

According to their sources, Artemyev violated U.S. ITAR export restrictions governing the transfer of military technology. During training at the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, California, the cosmonaut photographed engines and internal company documentation with his phone and then attempted to smuggle these materials off-site.

Andrey Fedyayev has been appointed to replace Artemyev on the Crew-12 crew, according to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center website. The mission is scheduled to launch on February 15, 2026. NASA, according to sources, is seeking to avoid a public scandal surrounding the incident.

Artemyev, a 54-year-old veteran of three spaceflights and a total of 560 days in space, has served as a United Russia member of the Moscow City Duma since 2019.