WASHINGTON– NASA revealedFeb 9 it wishes to get a seat on the following Soyuz goal to the International Space Station, releasing in simply 2 months, to make certain a UNITED STATE existence on the terminal in case of any kind of industrial staff hold-ups.
In a purchase summary uploaded lateFeb 9, NASA stated it desired the seat on the following Soyuz goal as it “minimizes risks associated with any interruption in U.S. crew member presence on ISS” that may be triggered by issues with industrial staff cars.
There are no well-known concerns with Space X’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, among which is presently anchored to the terminal for the Crew -1 goal. The company statedJan 29 the following such goal, Crew -2, is set up for launch April 20, permitting the Crew -1 goal to return in late April or very earlyMay Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner is currently set up to make a crewed examination trip to the terminal no earlier than September, after a 2nd uncrewed examination set up for launch March 25.
“Experience has shown that new launch capabilities may encounter unanticipated delays or difficulties maintaining initial schedules,” NASA kept in mind in its purchase summary, which describes industrial staff cars as UNITED STATE Crew Vehicles, or USCV. “Even with no delays of the next USCV launch to ISS, a contingency undock of that USCV could occur due to unforeseen circumstances.”
NASA has actually long revealed a wish for “mixed crews,” with American astronauts remaining to fly on Soyuz cars while Russian cosmonauts fly on industrial staff spacecraft, to ensure that there goes to the very least one American and also one Russian on the terminal ought to either Soyuz or industrial staff cars be based for a prolonged duration. Those seats would certainly be traded, instead of bought.
“We look forward to the next crew rotation on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission, and we’re looking to ensure we can continue to maximize our use of the station and minimize any risk by flying a U.S. astronaut on the upcoming spring Soyuz by providing in-kind services,” Robyn Gatens, acting supervisor for the ISS at NASA Headquarters, stated in a firm declaration regarding the declaring.
As she kept in mind, NASA does not prepare to buy the Soyuz seat, as it has actually carried out in the past. “In consideration for this supplemental crew transportation service, NASA is considering providing similar in-kind services,” the summary mentioned. NASA did not reveal what those “in-kind services” would certainly be, although the summary is labelled “International Space Station Seat Exchange.”
The Soyuz goal concerned, Soyuz MS-18, is set up for launch around April 10. The Russian area company Roscosmos has actually appointed 3 Russian cosmonauts– Oleg Novitsky, Pyotr Dubrov and also Sergei Korsakov– to the goal, making it the very first all-Russian Soyuz staff in greater than twenty years.
One of the 3 cosmonauts would certainly need to be eliminated to include a NASA astronaut. Notably, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei has actually been seen going along with the appointed Soyuz MS-18 staff, recommending he might be preparing to take place the goal. Vande Hei was the back-up to Kate Rubins, the NASA astronaut that released on the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft to the ISS in October 2020. Novitsky and also Dubrov were additionally backup staff for that goal.
Roscosmos informed the Russian information company TASSFeb 10 that it anticipates to “formalize the relations with the partners on this April flight,” yet really did not clarify on what the regards to any kind of such contract would certainly be.