{"id":11868,"date":"2021-02-11T19:25:55","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T11:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-seeking-astronaut-seat-on-soyuz-launch-in-april\/"},"modified":"2021-02-11T19:25:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T11:25:55","slug":"nasa-seeking-astronaut-seat-on-soyuz-launch-in-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-seeking-astronaut-seat-on-soyuz-launch-in-april\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA seeking astronaut seat on Soyuz launch in April"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft docks with the International Space Station on Oct. 14, 2020, delivering three new crew members to the research complex. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA wants to fly an astronaut on Russia\u2019s next Soyuz mission to the International Space Station in April, a measure the agency says would ensure a continued U.S. presence on the research outpost in case of delays in the launch of SpaceX\u2019s next Crew Dragon flight.<\/p>\n

A NASA astronaut could join two Russian cosmonauts on the Soyuz MS-18 mission, scheduled for launch April 9 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n

Russian commander Oleg Novitskiy, a veteran of two prior missions to the space station, will lead the three-person crew. Two rookie cosmonauts \u2014 Pyotr Dubrov and Sergey Korsakov \u2014 have been training to fly in the other two Soyuz seats.<\/p>\n

NASA said Feb. 9 it might secure rights to at least one of the Soyuz seats as a hedge against possible delays to SpaceX\u2019s next Crew Dragon launch to the space station, currently scheduled for April 20 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA wants to make sure there is at least one U.S. crew member on the orbiting complex at all times.<\/p>\n

In a statement, NASA said the \u201csupplemental seat\u201d on the upcoming Soyuz crew rotation mission would give the space agency a backup plan in case the Crew Dragon launch is delayed. According the Russian Tass news agency, the Russian space agency Roscosmos says it expects to \u201cformalize\u201d an agreement to fly a U.S. astronaut on the mission.<\/p>\n

April and May are scheduled to be busy months for crew rotations at the space station.<\/p>\n

Novitskiy\u2019s crew will arrive at the space station soon after their April 9 launch from Baikonur, beginning a week-long handover with the outgoing Soyuz crew that docked with the space station last October. The Soyuz MS-17 crew \u2014 commander Sergey Ryzhikov, flight engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins \u2014 are scheduled to depart the station and head for landing in Kazakhstan on April 17.<\/p>\n

Four other members of the station\u2019s current seven-person crew arrived in November aboard SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon \u201cResilience\u201d spacecraft. That crew, led by NASA commander Mike Hopkins, will be replaced by four astronauts on SpaceX\u2019s Crew-2 mission set to blast off from Florida on April 20.<\/p>\n

Assuming an on-time launch of the Crew-2 mission, Hopkins and crewmates Victor Glover, Soichi Noguchi, and Shannon Walker will head for Earth around May 1, targeting a splashdown at sea off the coast of Florida.<\/p>\n

The Crew Dragon\u2019s seven-month design lifetime expires in mid-June, meaning the Crew-2 mission must launch by then for the space station to remain staffed with U.S. astronauts. While there\u2019s no hint of a delay in the Crew-2 launch, schedule slips are common in the space business.<\/p>\n

\u201cNASA\u2019s SpaceX Crew-2 is expected to launch as planned April 20,\u201d NASA said in a statement Feb. 9. \u201cHowever, if the mission launch is delayed or an event occurs while Crew-2 is in-orbit that requires a premature return, NASA risks not having a U.S. crew member aboard the International Space Station.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the unlikely scenario where a crew capsule might have to leave the space station early, due to a health emergency or a technical failure. Space station astronauts and cosmonauts must ride to and from the station in the same spacecraft, so such a situation could empty the outpost of all its U.S. or Russian crew members.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

NASA contracted with SpaceX and Boeing to develop the Crew Dragon and Starliner spacecraft to end U.S. reliance on Russian Soyuz vehicles for astronaut transportation services to and from the space station. The Starliner has not yet flown with astronauts, and Boeing plans a second unpiloted test flight of the Starliner in late March, redoing a previous test flight in December 2019 that ended prematurely due to software problems.<\/p>\n

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 regular crew transportation service.<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s Crew-1 mission, led by Hopkins, is the company\u2019s first operational Crew Dragon flight. SpaceX previously accomplished successful unpiloted and crewed test flights on the Crew Dragon spacecraft in 2019 and 2020.<\/p>\n

NASA officials have said for years they want to continue flying U.S. astronauts on Russian Soyuz missions. But instead issuing cash payments directly to the Russian government, NASA says it wants to provide Russian cosmonauts with rides on SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner spaceships in return.<\/p>\n

Kathy Lueders, head of NASA\u2019s human spaceflight directorate, told Spaceflight Now in November that the agency had finalized the text of a draft agreement with Roscosmos that would allow Russian cosmonauts to begin flying to the International Space Station on U.S. crew capsules in 2021.<\/p>\n

She said NASA wanted to have the agreement in place in time for a Russian cosmonaut to fly on SpaceX\u2019s Crew-3 mission scheduled for launch this fall. NASA has named three crew members to the Crew-3 mission, and a seat remains open, likely for a Russian cosmonaut if agencies approve a final agreement in time.<\/p>\n

The agreement would allow all future U.S. and Russian crew missions to the station to carry a crew member from the other partner.<\/p>\n

The agreement will help ensure there is always a trained crew member on-board the space station to operate the outpost\u2019s Russian section and U.S. On-Orbit Segment, or USOS, which includes U.S., Japanese, European, and Canadian hardware. If Russia\u2019s Soyuz program or the U.S. crew vehicles are grounded, crew members from the other international partners will still be able to fly to the space station.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt NASA, we have a phrase we use often \u2013 dissimilar redundancy. That\u2019s NASA speak for saying we always have a back-up plan that ensures we have a path forward even if we encounter an issue with our initial approach,\u201d said Robyn Gatens, acting director for the International Space Station at NASA Headquarters. \u201cWe look forward to the next crew rotation on NASA\u2019s SpaceX Crew-2 mission, and we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA issued a solicitation this week to request information from companies that might be able to secure a Soyuz seat on the April 9 launch. NASA has previously used Boeing as an intermediary to purchase Soyuz seats, and other space tourism companies \u2014 like Axiom Space and Space Adventures \u2014 are in positions to act as brokers in such a deal.<\/p>\n

The Verge reported Thursday that NASA is looking to buy the Soyuz seat in April through Axiom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is one established U.S. Crew Vehicle (USCV) capability in the early phases of operation, which is scheduled to fly this spring, and a second USCV provider in the late stages of development,\u201d NASA wrote in the Feb. 9 solicitation, referring to SpaceX and Boeing, respectively. \u201cExperience has shown that new launch capabilities may encounter unanticipated delays or difficulties maintaining initial schedules.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould no supplemental crew transportation capability be acquired, the result could be a period wherein there is no U.S. presence on the ISS, disrupting ongoing research and technology development in the United States On-orbit Segment (USOS), in addition to putting the ISS itself at risk since trained USG (U.S. government) crew members are necessary to maintain and operate hardware and to conduct emergency Extravehicular Activities (EVAS, or spacewalks) if necessary to perform repairs,\u201d NASA said.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft docks with the International Space Station on Oct. 14, 2020, delivering three new crew members to the research complex. Credit: NASA NASA wants to fly an astronaut on Russia\u2019s next Soyuz mission to the International Space Station in April, a measure the agency says would ensure a continued U.S. presence on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[376,1601,1719,1545,1771,25,190,1882],"class_list":["post-11868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-axiom-space","tag-baikonur-cosmodrome","tag-expedition-65","tag-human-spaceflight","tag-kazakhstan","tag-launch","tag-nasa","tag-oleg-novitskiy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}