Maryna Vitaleuna Vasileuskaya (Belarusian: Марына Віталеўна Васілеўская; born 14 September 1990) is a flight attendant for Belavia Airlines in Belarus.[3][4][5][1] She is the first Belarusian woman to be launched into space.[6][7]

Maryna Vasileuskaya
Марина Василевская
Born (1990-09-14) 14 September 1990 (age 34)
OccupationFlight attendant
Organization(s)Belavia
Space career
Belarus Space Agency spaceflight participant
Time in space
13 days, 18 hours and 41 minutes
MissionsSoyuz MS-25/MS-24[1][2]

Biography

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Maryna Vasileuskaya graduated from secondary school No. 151 in Minsk.[8] She is a flight attendant and instructor for Belavia Airlines, working on Boeing and Embraer aircraft.[9][3] She started dancing around 2002, when she was 12.[7] Soon after completing school, she practiced ballroom dancing professionally for 15 years before joining the airline.[10][11] She is passionate about interior design, she enjoys going to the swimming pool, doing aerobics, playing badminton and tennis in her free time, as well as gardening.[3][5][7]

Space mission

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Anastasia Lenkova (left) and Maryna Vasileuskaya (right)

In December 2022, during a competitive selection held in Belarus, she was selected among six applicants from more than three thousand women to participate in a space flight under the "Belarusian Woman in Space" project on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to ISS for a short duration mission.[12][13] This contest was organised by Belarus Academy of Sciences. The other five were another flight attendant, two doctors, and two scientists.[7]

 
Marina before launch
 
Marina on ISS

In May 2023, she was one of the two remaining candidates (Anastasia Lenkova, being the other selected as her backup) following the Belarus Space Agency selection to fly aboard Soyuz MS-25 as a spaceflight participant in March 2024.[14][15][16] She was designated as a member of prime crew of ISS EP-21.

On 24 July 2023, she commenced theoretical and practical training for the flight at the Yuri A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.[17] In October, she began practical training on the Soyuz MS spacecraft simulator to conduct routine flight and undocking operations,[18] and underwent training in zero gravity conditions on the Ilyushin II-76 laboratory aircraft.[19] In December, together with Oleg Novitsky, she conducted training on the actions of astronauts in the event of an emergency landing in a wooded and swampy area in winter. She isn't trained for the US Orbital Segment as she only worked on the Russian Orbital Segment of ISS.[20]

She traveled to the station with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, where she and Oleg spent approximately 13 days aboard the orbital complex as a part of 21st ISS visiting expedition.[21][1][22] After spending those 13 days on the International Space Station, she and Novitsky returned to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-24 with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara on 6 April 2024.[21][3][16][5][7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya to blast off for ISS mission early in 2024". TASS. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  2. ^ Pearlmanpublished, Robert Z. (2024-03-23). "Flight attendant becomes 1st Belarusian in space on ISS-bound Soyuz launch". Space.com. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  3. ^ a b c d "SB news". www.sb.by (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  4. ^ "Belarus' Marina Vasilevskaya assigned to fly to ISS as part of prime crew". eng.belta.by. 2023-05-29. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  5. ^ a b c Naren, Karthik (2023-07-25). "Belarusian Cosmonaut Embark Space Mission to the ISS". Space Intelligence. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  6. ^ "Belarusian Marina Vasilevskaya included in the main crew for the flight to the ISS". TV channel «Belarus 24». Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  7. ^ a b c d e каза, Тодор Ковачев (2024-02-12). "Защо Беларус изпраща стюардеса в космоса? – КОСМОС БГ – Сайт за космонавтика" (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  8. ^ "Спортсменка, танцовщица, лидер. Подробности о Марине Василевской, которая вскоре отправится на МКС и станет первой белорусской космонавткой". Зеркало (in Russian). 2023-06-04. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  9. ^ "NASA astronaut assigned to International Space Station mission with Russia, Belarus". Yahoo News. 2023-09-19. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  10. ^ НЕСТЕРОВ, Александр (2022-12-28). "Претендентки на полет в космос от Беларуси — кто они? Сообщаем подробности". www.sb.by (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  11. ^ "Что известно о белорусской женщине-космонавте, которая отправится на МКС?". AiF (in Russian). 2023-05-29. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  12. ^ правды», | Сайт «Комсомольской. "«Белорусская леди на орбите»: голосуй за самую обаятельную красавицу, которая может полететь в космос". belarus.kp.ru - Сайт «Комсомольской правды» (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  13. ^ "В Белоруссии зарегистрировали более 3 тыс. заявок на полет в космос". TACC. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  14. ^ "Belarusian cosmonaut candidates named". eng.belta.by. 2022-12-24. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  15. ^ "Flight to ISS as new bar for Belarus - Who will be first female cosmonaut in history of sovereign country?". Белтелерадиокомпания. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  16. ^ a b "When will first Belarusian woman fly into space?". Белтелерадиокомпания. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  17. ^ "Центр подготовки космонавтов им. Ю.А.Гагарина. Официальный Web-сайт". www.gctc.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  18. ^ "Центр подготовки космонавтов им. Ю.А.Гагарина. Официальный Web-сайт". www.gctc.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  19. ^ "Центр подготовки космонавтов им. Ю.А.Гагарина. Официальный Web-сайт". www.gctc.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  20. ^ "The crews of the 21st ISS visiting expedition survived in the winter forest".
  21. ^ a b O’Shea, Claire (2023-09-15). "NASA Astronaut Tracy C. Dyson Receives Third Space Station Assignment". NASA. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  22. ^ "Russian Soyuz spacecraft with 3 astronauts docks at the International Space Station". Yahoo News. 2024-03-25. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
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