Roscosmos resumes international crew launches with the nearest one scheduled for April 9, 2021. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei will set off to the International Space Station together with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov.

Interagency Commission on cosmonaut selection and assigning crews of spacecraft and stations decided to exclude Sergey Korsakov from the ISS-65 long-term expedition prime crew and appointing NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei to the Soyuz MS-18 crew as Flight Engineer 2. This decision came based on the existing Roscosmos liabilities within the agreement with Axiom Space, Inc. to ensure professional NASA astronaut flight to the ISS as part of the Soyuz MS-18 crew.

The same decision substituted Roscosmos cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin in the ISS-65 backup crew for Anne McClain (NASA astronaut).

The crew composition change came as a result of an earnest request from the US side. NASA voiced its request only in the end of 2020 meaning the Russian side had to change the already confirmed and approved launch program. Roscosmos has taken this decision confirming its adherence to the joint agreements and the spirit of joint usage of the International Space Station.

The Soyuz MS-18 crewed spacecraft according to the ISS flight program is scheduled to launch on April 9, 2021. Thus, the tradition of international crews that started over 20 years ago, will be continued.