As of: 07/15/2022 5:27 p.m
US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts will again fly together to the International Space Station – sometimes launching rockets in Baikonur, sometimes in Florida. This is to ensure its presence on the ISS.
The space organizations of the USA and Russia are working more closely together again. The flights to the International Space Station ISS will take place from September with mixed crews in Russian and US capsules.
The agreement is in the interests of both countries and will deepen cooperation in the area of the ISS, said Roskosmos. In this way, it can be guaranteed that in the event of delayed or canceled rocket launches, there will always be at least one Roskosmos and one NASA member on the ISS. According to NASA, the decision was made for security reasons and to ensure the “US presence in space”.
Unusual timing?
The agreement was made public shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin replaced the head of Roskosmos. The previous head of the agency, Dmitry Rogozin, has taken a confrontational stance on the West since the start of the Ukraine war. He threatened to withdraw from the ISS and described cooperation with the West as “impossible”.
SpaceX now also flies cosmonauts
Astronaut Frank Rubio is scheduled to launch in September from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on board a Russian capsule, along with Sergei Prokopyev and Dimitri Petelin.
Later, the Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina will be brought to the ISS from Florida together with two US and one Japanese astronauts. She will be the first female cosmonaut to go into space on a SpaceX rocket.
US astronauts had flown into space on Russian rockets from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan until 2020. After that, manned ISS flights took off from US soil again.
Despite sanctions: NASA and Roskosmos cooperate on flights to the ISS
Julia Kastein, ARD Washington, July 15, 2022 5:49 p.m