Novitskiy; born October 12, 1971) is a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Russian Air Force who logged over 700 hours of flight time and was awarded for bravery.

In 1994 he graduated from the Kachinskoye Military Pilot School named after A. Myasnikov, where he studied at the department specializing in command tactical aviation.

Between September and December 1995, Novitsky served as a pilot-instructor in the fighter aviation regiment of V. Chkalov Training Center.

Between February 2007 and July 2009 he completed basic spaceflight training and passed state exams with excellent grades.

Novitsky returned to space for the third time in April 2021, launching aboard Soyuz MS-18, alongside Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and American astronaut Mark T. Vande Hei.

[7] Alternates trained for the mission and filming are actress Alyona Mordovina and director Alexey Dudin[8] and the commander Oleg Artemyev.

[11] The director and actress returned to Earth on October 17, 2021, on Soyuz MS-18, with Commander Oleg Novitsky, who will play the role of a cosmonaut who needs medical assistance in the film.

[17] Ministry of Defense of Russian Federation medals:[2] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.