Roscosmos says International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 67 commander Oleg Artemyev collided with a pedestrian "in conditions of limited visibility" on Tuesday (Oct. 18).
According to Russian space writer Anatoly Zak, Roscosmos identified the pedestrian as Anatoly Uronov, who worked as a project manager at Moscow's training center Star City.
The accident occurred outside of a pedestrian crossing zone "on a poorly lit road," according to Roscosmos, who also stated that Artemyev was sober and called doctors to the scene to provide first aid.
The pedestrian is hospitalized in the area at Shchyolkovo, according to Roscosmos, which did not provide any other information on his condition. After a half-year of science and spacewalks at the ISS, Artemyev had just returned to Earth on September 29 aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, landing in Kazakhstan with two other cosmonauts.
Peer-reviewed studies have shown that newly returned spaceflyers' driving abilities are diminished, therefore they normally take a few weeks off after their return.
According to Raffi Kuyumjian, flight surgeon for Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield during his 2012-2013 mission, a typical space station resident on a six-month mission can resume driving in roughly three weeks, depending on medical clearance. Artemyev arrived 19 days ago and would have presumably followed his own physician's medical advice before getting behind the wheel.
During Expedition 66/67, Artemyev took part in multiple spacewalks, including one on Aug.17 that was cut short owing to suit issues. All difficulties have been fixed in preparation for the next extravehicular activity, or EVA.
He took command of the ISS on May 4 and remained in charge until Sept. 28, directing the entire station's operations from orbit.
On the final day that Marshburn and the other three members of SpaceX's Crew-3 mission spent onboard the orbiting lab, NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn handed leadership of the ISS over to Artemyev.
"I think the lasting legacy of the space station is very likely to be international cooperation and a place of peace," Marshburn said during a webcast change-of-command ceremony.
The majority of Russia's space relationships have disintegrated in the aftermath of the country's invasion of Ukraine, and the country's standing as a significant ISS partner has been called into question.
Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's state space agency Roscosmos, for example, has frequently threatened to withdraw from the ISS program until sanctions imposed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine are repealed.
Artemyev has spent more than 560 days in space during three long-duration missions: Expedition 39/40 in 2014, Expedition 55/56 in 2018, and Expedition 66/67 in 2022.
