Nikolai Tikhonov (cosmonaut)


Nikolay Vladimirovich Tikhonov is a Russian cosmonaut, selected in 2006. He is scheduled to make his first space flight in 2021, onboard Soyuz MS-18.

Cosmonaut career

After working as an engineer for RKKE, he was selected for cosmonaut training in 2006.
He was selected as a backup flight engineer for Soyuz MS-02. He was made a prime crew member of Soyuz MS-04 but, due to Russian budget cuts, the crews were changed and Tikhonov was then slated to make his first spaceflight on the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft. He was again removed from the manifest due to delays in launching the Russian Nauka module. He was scheduled to fly into space as commander of the Soyuz MS-15 mission, although he was removed for a third time following the aborted launch of Soyuz MS-10, and the subsequent crew changes that followed. He was scheduled to finally make his first flight onboard Soyuz MS-16 in 2020, but ended replaced due medical reasons.
backup crew.

Expedition 65/66

He has since been selected to fly in the Spring of 2021, as Commander of Soyuz MS-18.