Anna Kikina

Did You Know?

• In spring 2021, toy manufacturer Mattel released a Barbie astronaut doll in Kikina's image.
• She worked as a tour guide in Altai region, a swimming and paratrooper instructor, and a radio host for Radio Siberia.
• Kikina is married to Alexander Serdyuk, a physical training instructor at the Cosmonaut Training Center.

Spaceflights

In December 2021, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin announced Kikina would fly on an 'American commercial spacecraft' in September 2022, while a NASA astronaut would take her seat on Soyuz. She launched in October 2022 as part of SpaceX Crew-5, becoming the first Russian cosmonaut to fly a Crew Dragon and the first Roscosmos cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft since 2002. The mission returned to Earth on 11 March 2023 after 157 days, with a 19-hour flight ending in a Gulf of Mexico splashdown. On 1 July 2025, she was confirmed as flight engineer for Soyuz MS-29 and Expeditions 74/75. She launched on 14 July 2026 with commander Pyotr Dubrov and American flight engineer Anil Menon, docking roughly 3 hours later at the Prichal nadir port. The crew is scheduled to return in April 2027.

Awards

Kikina was awarded Hero of the Russian Federation and Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation by decree of the President of Russia No. 233 on 3 April 2024, for courage and heroism demonstrated during a long-duration spaceflight aboard the International Space Station. She received the Yuri A. Gagarin Medal from Roscosmos in 2023, and the Medal 'For the Promotion of Rescue Work' from EMERCOM of Russia in 2023. Also in 2023, she was given a medal commemorating the 110th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin, and was named 'Honorary Resident of the City of Novosibirsk' in May 2023.