{"id":15201,"date":"2016-09-29T00:51:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T16:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/russian-space-station-crews-to-be-smaller-next-year\/"},"modified":"2016-09-29T00:51:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-28T16:51:23","slug":"russian-space-station-crews-to-be-smaller-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/russian-space-station-crews-to-be-smaller-next-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian space station crews to be smaller next year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A Soyuz crew ferry craft (left) and a Progress supply ship (right) are docked with the International Space Station in this view captured during a night pass over Europe. The Strait of Gibraltar is visible in the background. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Russia\u2019s space agency has decided to cut the size of its crew complement on the International Space Station beginning in March 2017 to reduce operating costs until a new Russian science lab is activated on the complex in early 2018, officials confirmed this week.<\/p>\n

Only two cosmonauts will occupy the Russian segment of the research lab at one time, down from three residents typically there today.<\/p>\n

The decision comes as Russian officials await the launch of a large bus-sized research segment named the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, or Nauka, which means \u201cscience\u201d in Russian.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have delays of some modules that (are coming) to ISS, and we checked and understood that we could complete all our programs with two cosmonauts, and we decided to optimize our crew for next year,\u201d said Igor Komarov, head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.<\/p>\n

The launch of MLM aboard a Proton rocket has been delayed several times, most recently from 2013 when engineers at RSC Energia, the prime contractor for Russia\u2019s human spaceflight program, found flaws in the module\u2019s propulsion system.<\/p>\n

Russian officials returned the MLM to Khrunichev, its builder, to resolve the problems, and the module is now expected to launch in late 2017 or early 2018. The MLM\u2019s launch will be preceded by the jettison of the space station\u2019s Pirs airlock, which currently occupies the connection port on the Zvezda service module where MLM will dock.<\/p>\n

Russia plans to follow MLM\u2019s launch with the attachment of a node module and a solar array power platform to the space station. Managers at Roscosmos and Energia are considering detaching the newest Russian modules from the International Space Station after 2024, the research lab\u2019s current retirement date, to form the core of a new Russian-led orbiting complex.<\/p>\n

The space station\u2019s crew normally consists of six people \u2014 three Russian cosmonauts, two U.S. astronauts and an astronaut from one of the program\u2019s other partners: Japan, Europe and Canada.<\/p>\n

With only two cosmonauts on the space station at a time, Russia can reduce the number of Progress resupply missions flying to the outpost from four to three.<\/p>\n

Komarov said Roscosmos will make open seats aboard Russian Soyuz crew capsules available to NASA and other space station partners. Russia\u2019s decision on crew staffing will likely open up at least two Soyuz seats next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf NASA or ESA willing to use (the seats), that\u2019s fine,\u201d said Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who is now the director of Russia\u2019s human spaceflight program at Roscosmos. \u201cThat\u2019s probably a point for negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Former
Former cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev speaks with reporters at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico. Credit: Stephen Clark\/Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the MLM\u2019s launching, Russia will increase its space station crew size back to three, Krikalev said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are planning to reduce the crew size on the Russian side only for a couple of missions,\u201d Krikalev told reporters Monday at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo people is enough to do maintenance and science,\u201d Krikalev said. \u201cOf course we will need more people when we have more science.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Krikalev, Roscosmos decided to reduce the number of Progress flights from four to three per year in 2015, and Russia\u2019s decision on the crew complement followed.<\/p>\n

Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA\u2019s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said the U.S. space agency has had no discussions with Roscosmos about filling the empty Soyuz seats with NASA astronauts next year.<\/p>\n

He agreed with Roscosmos officials that two cosmonauts can safely operate the Russian segment of the space station, and expects only minor impacts to the orbiting laboratory\u2019s total research output.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur research is basically our research, so that can continue on,\u201d Gerstenmaier said in an interview with Spaceflight Now in Guadalajara. \u201cWe were going to get some more cosmonaut time to help with our research, so there may be a small impact there, but I think it will be tolerable for the period of time they talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once U.S.-built commercial capsules begin launching astronauts to the space station in 2018, NASA intends to expand crews living and working in the U.S. segment to four people per expedition.<\/p>\n

When Russia resumes sending three cosmonauts to the space station at a time, seven people will fly aboard the complex on each mission.<\/p>\n

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

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

A Soyuz crew ferry craft (left) and a Progress supply ship (right) are docked with the International Space Station in this view captured during a night pass over Europe. The Strait of Gibraltar is visible in the background. Credit: NASA Russia\u2019s space agency has decided to cut the size of its crew complement on the […]<\/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":[1545,3568,3570,717,234,352,1302],"class_list":["post-15201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-human-spaceflight","tag-iac-2016","tag-international-astronautical-congress","tag-international-space-station","tag-roscosmos","tag-russia","tag-soyuz"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15201"}],"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=15201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}