Andrei Fedyaev

Russian Air Force military pilot turned cosmonaut, and the first Roscosmos cosmonaut to ride a SpaceX Crew Dragon. Andrei Fedyaev has now flown to the Station on both American and Russian spacecraft — a distinction held by very few people and one that makes him a walking case study in the practical reality of international cooperation in orbit.

Before spaceflight

Fedyaev was born in 1981 in Russia. He pursued a career in military aviation, joining the Russian Air Force and training as a pilot. His military flying career gave him the cockpit discipline and systems-management skills that the cosmonaut selection process looks for: the ability to manage multiple information streams simultaneously, make decisions under time pressure, and remain calm when hardware does not behave as expected.

Roscosmos selected him for the cosmonaut corps in 2018, part of a small intake that reflected the agency’s tighter selection criteria. The training programme covered the full range: Soyuz piloting, Station systems, spacewalk preparation in the hydro laboratory, survival training, and cross-training on NASA’s systems and procedures.

Spaceflight career

Fedyaev’s first spaceflight was Crew-6, launching aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon in March 2023. He was the first Roscosmos cosmonaut to fly on a Crew Dragon — a milestone that came about through the cross-flight agreement between NASA and Roscosmos, which places crew members on each other’s vehicles to ensure both sides maintain access to the Station even if one vehicle is temporarily grounded.

That mission was part of Expedition 68/69 and lasted over six months. Flying on Dragon gave Fedyaev direct experience with American crew-vehicle operations: the launch profile, the autonomous docking, the emergency procedures, and the re-entry and splashdown — all of which differ significantly from the Soyuz experience.

This expedition

Fedyaev returned for Expedition 74, this time arriving the traditional way — aboard a Soyuz spacecraft launched from Baikonur. He serves as flight engineer in the Russian segment. Having flown on both vehicles, he is one of the few crew members who can speak from experience about the differences between Dragon and Soyuz: the acceleration profiles, the display layouts, the feel of docking, and the return to Earth.

His dual-vehicle experience makes him a valuable resource during joint operations and cross-segment emergency drills, where understanding how both vehicles behave can matter.

The person

Calm voice on the radio, fond of long shifts in the Cupola tracking weather fronts over the steppes he learned to fly above. Colleagues describe him as steady, professional, and quietly proud of his Crew Dragon milestone — not in a boastful way, but in the way of someone who understands the historical weight of what the cross-flight programme represents. Off duty he photographs the landscape of Central Asia from orbit and exercises.