The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has extended the agreement with Roscosmos on cross-flights to the International Space Station (ISS), TASS writes, citing a statement by US space agency spokesman Joshua Finch. According to him, this will ensure the continued uninterrupted operation of the space station.
Image source: Roscosmos
“In order to ensure the continued safe operation of the International Space Station, protect the lives of astronauts and maintain the US presence in space, NASA and the Russian state corporation Roscosmos have agreed to continue cross-flights on American manned spacecraft and Russian Soyuz spacecraft,” a NASA spokesman said.
Finch noted that cross-flights ensure that the station has crews adequately trained to perform critical maintenance work as well as spacewalks. Also, according to a NASA representative, this will ensure protection of crew members from unforeseen circumstances, such as problems with a particular ship, serious medical problems among crew members, or an emergency on board the station, which will require an early return to Earth of the crew and the ship assigned to it.
“The agreement, which does not imply mutual settlements, provides for the delivery [экипажей] to the International Space Station and their return, comprehensive mission support, including providing all necessary pre-flight preparation and training, flight control, as well as landing and search and rescue operations,” said a representative of the American space agency.
The fact that the Russian-American program of cross flights to the ISS was extended until 2030 at the request of the American side was announced at the end of October by the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov. He announced the agreement reached on this matter back in July.
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