Records: Yevgeny Mikrin
| Submitted | May 7, 2020 |
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Communications
From: T. McElwee
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
All NASA records mentioning or pertaining to the late Yevgeny Mikrin, a deceased Russian national. Mikrin was member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Chief Designer of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia.
An attached announcement from the President of Russia and a story by Space.com shall serve as proof of Mikrin having passed away in 2020; as such, privacy concerns recognized under FOIA and the Privacy Act are diminished.
To assist in the identification of records, per Wikipedia, Mikrin's name in Cyrillic is Евге́ний Анато́льевич Ми́крин. Mikrin's date of birth was October 15, 1955; place of birth, Lebedyan , Lipetsk region , RSFSR , USSR. Date of death was May 5, 2020 in Moscow, Russian Federation.
Please search all matter falling within NASA's Systems of Records.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
T. McElwee
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 7, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Dear Mr./Ms. McElwee:
Attached please find our letter regarding your FOIA request. Please communicate with us via email, our facility is currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we do not have access to our fax machine.
Thank you,
Stephen Rowe
Government Information Specialist
NASA HQ
From: T. McElwee
To whom it may concern:
For the sake of clarity: Mikrin was an esteemed scientistRussian space program/Roscosmos as well as a businessman with the Russian aerospace firm Energia, both of whom are partners with NASA in projects such as the International Space Station.
The most recent known instance was April 9, 2020 at a launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where a NASA crew member was aboard the Soyuz MS-16 . Mikrin was photographed at this launch, leading to worries regarding his COVID-19 diagnosis, related death and the possibility of contagion.
I believe a keyword search for the name, as provided, is sufficient enough to yield a responsive record within NASA systems of records. If you would like some terms that may yield results, I suggest "Roscosmos" and "Energia." I do not pretend to know the intricacies of the NASA/Roscosmos relationship and/or the relationship with the Russian aerospace industry, but I believe it is far fetched to believe NASA has not had some communication either with or about such a person.
I will also note again that as Mikrin is deceased, privacy interests that might otherwise prevent disclosure are diminished.
-TM
From: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Good Morning Mr. McElwee: Thank you for your response to our acknowledgment letter seeking your clarification about Mr. Mikrin’s association with NASA.
Based on the information you provided below, we will send a search request to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, the ISS Program office, directing search, for the date referenced in your FOIA request (April 9, 2020) and will be using Mr. Yevgency Mikrin as our search term, to see if JSC has any information for this event and/or other docs/information leading up to this event.
Otherwise, without knowing any other information concerning his association with NASA or involvement in any of NASA’s mission, we will not be able to conduct a reasonable search for “all” records you seek about Mr. Mikrin.
If you have any questions, please give me a call to discuss your request.
Thank you,
Nikki Gramian
Principal Agency FOIA Officer
NASA HQ
(202) 358-0625
From: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Dear T. McElwee,
Attached please find our response to your FOIA request.
Thank you,
Stephen Rowe
Government Information Specialist
NASA HQ
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