Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station

Did You Know?

• The 2021 experiment involved six participants from Russia, the US, and the UAE.
• Participants in the 2021 experiment included Oleg Blinov, Victoria Kirichenko, Ekaterina Krayakina, William Brown, Ashley Kowalski, and Abdalla AlHammadi.
• The 2021 experiment lasted eight months.

SIRIUS-17

In November 2017, a 17-day joint Russian-US mission kicked off the SIRIUS series, with NASA and IBMP studying ways to safeguard astronaut health in space. The six-person crew tackled over 60 experiments, such as using a robotic arm to grab satellites and driving a rover across the Moon. One test forced 38 hours without sleep while the team manually docked a virtual Orel spacecraft to a booster in Earth orbit. Commander Mark Serov, a former test cosmonaut, led the group. Anna Kikina served as first flight engineer, Ilya Rukavishnikov as crew doctor, and Elena Luchinskaya, who previously commanded an all-female Luna 2015 mission, also took part. Viktor Fetter, from Airbus, was flight engineer, and Natalia Lysova acted as researcher.

SIRIUS-19

Commencing on 19 March 2019 at the NEK ground-based facility at IBMP, this experiment involved over 80 experiments. Halfway through, a simulated visit to the Moon occurred: four crew members landed on the lunar surface in a small capsule, conducted several moonwalks in spacesuits, collected samples, and prepared a settlement. Two crew members remained in the simulated Lunar Gateway to monitor them. After the lander returned and docked with the simulated Gateway, the entire crew orbited the Moon for 30 days, remotely controlled rovers on the lunar surface, docked spaceships with the Orbital Platform, and performed other experiments before their return to Moscow.

Participants included the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Space Administration and the French space agency (CNES), under Roscosmos and NASA leadership. The crew comprised commander Evgeny Tarelkin, flight engineer Daria Zhidova, crew doctor Stephania Fedeye, test researcher Anastasia Stepanova, and test researchers Reinhold Povilaitis and Allen Mirkadyrov.