NASA and Roscosmos officials restate intent to operate ISS after 2024

[Internetado]

NASA and Roscosmos reiterated that they expect to continue operations
of the International Space Station after 2024 as NASA continues to push
for an extension to 2030.

The post NASA and Roscosmos officials restate intent to operate ISS
after 2024 appeared first on SpaceNews.

https://spacenews.com/nasa-and-roscosmos-officials-restate-intent-to-operate-iss-after-2024/

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[Internetado]

NASA and Roscosmos reiterated that they expect to continue operations
of the International Space Station after 2024 as NASA continues to push
for an extension to 2030.

At an Aug. 4 briefing about the upcoming SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the
ISS, officials with the two agencies played down comments July 26 by
Yuri Borisov, new head of Roscosmos, initially interpreted to mean that
Russia would withdraw from the partnership as soon as 2024. NASA
officials said at the time they had received no notification of any
planned withdrawal, and Borisov later said Russia would withdraw only
at some unspecified time after 2024.

“Perhaps something was lost in the translation,” said Sergei Krikalev,
executive director of human space flight programs at Roscosmos, himself
speaking through an interpreter. “The statement actually said that
Russia will not pull out of the program until after 2024. This means
that, up until the end of 2024, there will be no changes.”

“‘After 2024’ could mean 2025, 2028 or 2030,” he added. “The decision
about the termination of the program will be based on the technical
condition of the station and assessment of outcomes.”

Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for space operations, said
the Multilateral Control Board of ISS partners that oversees the
station met last week. That meeting, she said, featured discussion of
the provision in a new NASA authorization bill Congress passed last
week that formally approves an extension of ISS operations to 2030.

“All the other governments are working through their plans” for an
extension, she said. “It was very helpful to hear where everyone was
with their progress. All of us are looking at the planning, laying in
the next steps for getting approval.”

Part of that ongoing work includes implementing the agreement for
integrated crews between NASA and Roscosmos announced July 15. NASA
astronaut Frank Rubio will fly on the Soyuz MS-22 mission launching
Sept. 21, while Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina will be on Crew-5.
While the Crew-5 mission is currently scheduled to launch no earlier
than Sept. 29, NASA officials said it was likely that the launch would
be pushed back a few days to provide more spacing with the Soyuz
mission.

The current NASA-Roscosmos agreement on integrated crews covers one
mission a year in 2022 through 2024, said Joel Montalbano, NASA ISS
program manager, and only involves exchanges between Soyuz and Crew
Dragon missions.

He said NASA will work to add Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner to the
agreement after its Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission, the first time the
spacecraft will launch with astronauts on board. “Our long-term goal is
to have integrated crews on all the missions,” he said. “We are just
doing this in steps.”

The CFT mission was tentatively planned for late this year, but Steve
Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager, said it will likely take
place early next year instead. Review of data from an uncrewed test
flight called OFT-2 in May will wrap up in a few weeks, after which
NASA and Boeing will work to set a launch date for CFT.
(continue)...

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