NASA wants to fly an astronaut during Russia’s next Soyuz mission to the International Space Station in April, a measure that the agency says will ensure a continued US presence at the research post in the event of delays in launching SpaceX’s next Crew Dragon flight.
A NASA astronaut could join the Russian cosmonauts in the Soyuz MS-18 mission, which will be launched on April 9 from the Baikonur Food Modroom in Kazakhstan.
Russian commander Oleg Novitskiy, a veteran of two previous missions to the space station, will lead the crew of three. Two newcomer cosmonauts – Pyotr Dubrov and Sergey Korsakov – practice flying in the other two Soyuz seats.
NASA said on February 9 that it was possible to secure rights to at least one of the Soyuz seats as a hedge against possible delays with SpaceX’s next launch of the Crew Dragon to the space station, currently taking place from April 20 onwards from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is planned. NASA wants to make sure there is at least one US crew member on orbit at all times.
In a statement, NASA said that the “supplementary seat” for the upcoming Soyuz crew rotation mission would give the space agency a backup plan if the launch of the Crew Dragon is delayed. According to the Russian Tass news agency, the Russian space agency Roscosmos says it expects to formalize an agreement to have a US astronaut fly on the mission.
April and May are expected to be busy months for the rotation of the crew at the space station.
The Novitskiy crew will arrive at the space station from Baikonur shortly after the launch on April 9, and a week-long handover begins with the outgoing Soyuz crew that was aboard the space station last October. The Soyuz MS-17 crew – Commander Sergey Ryzhikov, flight engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins – plan to leave the station on April 17 and land in Kazakhstan.
Four other members of the current crew of seven people at the station boarded SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Resilience” in November. The crew, led by NASA Commander Mike Hopkins, will be replaced by four astronauts on SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission, which will depart from Florida on April 20.
Assuming the Crew-2 mission is launched on time, Hopkins and crew members Victor Glover, Soichi Noguchi and Shannon Walker will leave for Earth around May 1 and aim for the sea off the coast of Florida.
The Crew Dragon’s lifelong seven-month design expires in mid-June, meaning the Crew 2 mission must begin by that time for the space station to remain manned by American astronauts. Although there is no hint of delay in the Crew-2 launch, schedule slips are common in the space business.
“NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 is expected to launch on April 20,” NASA said in a statement on February 9. “If the launch is delayed or an event occurs while Crew-2 is in orbit, it should be premature for NASA to step back to have a US crew member aboard the International Space Station.
There is also the unlikely scenario where a crew capsule may have to leave the space station early due to a health emergency or a technical failure. Space station astronauts and cosmonauts must ride the same spacecraft to and from the station so that such a situation can empty the outpost of all its American or Russian crew members.
The Crew-2 astronauts are led by NASA Commander Shane Kimbrough, who will be joined by pilot Megan McArthur, Japanese mission specialist Akihiko Hoshide and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
NASA has contracted with SpaceX and Boeing to develop the Crew Dragon and Starliner spacecraft to end US dependence on Russian Soyuz vehicles for space shuttle services to and from the space station. The Starliner has not yet flown with astronauts, and Boeing is planning a second non-flying test flight of the Starliner at the end of March, with a previous test flight in December 2019 ending prematurely due to software issues.
If the Starliner demo flight goes well in March, Boeing plans to launch astronauts on a Starliner for the first time around September, followed by the start of a regular crew service.
SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission, led by Hopkins, is the company’s first operational Crew Dragon flight. Earlier in 2019 and 2020, SpaceX achieved successful unmanned test flights on the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
NASA officials have said for years they want to continue flying American astronauts on Russian Soyuz missions. But instead of issuing cash payments directly to the Russian government, NASA says it wants to give Russian cosmonauts rides on SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner spaceships in return.
Kathy Lueders, head of NASA’s board for human spaceflight, told Spaceflight Now in November that the agency had finalized the text of a draft agreement with Roscosmos that would allow Russian cosmonauts to fly to the International Space Station in 2021 with US crew capsules.
She said NASA wanted to implement the agreement in time for a Russian cosmonaut to fly on SpaceX’s Crew-3 mission, which will be launched in the fall. NASA has appointed three crew members for the Crew-3 mission, and a seat remains open, likely for a Russian cosmonaut if agencies approve a final agreement in time.
The agreement will allow all future U.S. and Russian crew trips to the station to take a crew member from the other partner.
The agreement will help ensure that there is always a trained crew member on board the space station to manage the Russian outpost Russian division and US On-Orbit Segment, or USOS, which includes US, Japanese, European and Canadian hardware . If the Russian Soyuz program or the US crews are grounded, crew members from the other international partners will still be able to fly to the space station.
“At NASA, we have a phrase we use often – other than redundancy. It’s NASA’s saying that we always have a backup plan that ensures we have a way forward, even if we have a problem with our initial approach, ‘said Robyn Gatens, acting director of the International Space Station at NASA headquarters. . ‘We look forward to the next crew rotation on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission, and we want to ensure that we can maximize the use of the station and minimize any risk by flying an American astronaut through Soyuz next spring through services in kind. ”
NASA made a request this week to ask for information from companies that could possibly secure a Soyuz seat on the April 9 launch. NASA has previously used Boeing as an intermediary to buy Soyuz seats, and other space tourism industries – such as Axiom Space and Space Adventures – are in a position to act as brokers in such an agreement.
The Verge reported on Thursday that NASA wants to buy the Soyuz seat through Axiom in April.
“There is one established US CV Vehicle (USCV) capability in the early stages of operation, which is expected to fly this spring, and a second USCV provider in the late stages of development,” NASA said in the request. Written February 9, with reference to reference. to SpaceX and Boeing respectively. ‘Experience has shown that new launch features can experience unexpected delays or problems in maintaining initial schedules.
“If no additional crew capability is obtained, the result could be a period in which there is no US presence on the ISS, which will disrupt the continued research and technology development in the US on-orbit segment (USOS), in addition to the ISS. itself is at risk, as trained crew members of the USG (US Government) are required to maintain and manage hardware and to perform essential extravehicular activities (EVAS, or spacecraft) if necessary to perform repairs, ”NASA said. said.
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