-NASA and Roscosmos have sought for years to renew integrated crewed flights as part of longstanding civil alliance
NEW YORK: The United States and Russian space agencies have signed a long-sought agreement to integrate flights to the International Space Station (ISS), allowing Russian cosmonauts to fly on US-made spacecraft in exchange for American astronauts being able to ride on Russia’s Soyuz.
In a statement on Friday, Roscosmos said the deal with NASA “is in the interests of Russia and the US and will promote the development of cooperation within the framework of the ISS program”.
It also will facilitate the “exploration of outer space for peaceful purposes”, the Russian space agency said.
NASA and Roscosmos, the two-decade-old space station’s core partners, have sought for years to renew routine integrated crewed flights as part of their longstanding civil alliance, now one of the last links of cooperation between the US and Russia as tensions flare over the war in Ukraine.
The first integrated flights under the new agreement will come in September, NASA said, with US astronaut Frank Rubio launching to the space station from the Moscow-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan alongside two cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin.
In exchange, cosmonaut Anna Kikina will join two US astronauts and a Japanese astronaut on a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to the orbital laboratory, launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. –Agencies
