NASA and Roscosmos leaders speak as plans finalized for astronaut flying on upcoming Soyuz flight

WASHINGTON – It is increasingly likely that a NASA astronaut will fly on a Russian Soyuz mission to the International Space Station in April as the agency finalizes a deal with its Russian counterpart.

In a February 25 statement, Roscosmos said its chief executive, Dmitry Rogozin, spoke that day with acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk. The conversation, Roscosmos said, included congratulations from Rogozin on the landing of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover last week and discussions about the upcoming launch of the Russian satellite Arktika-M to monitor conditions in the Arctic.

The statement also mentioned “the mutual content of the level of cooperation between Roscosmos and the US space agency, including the International Space Station program,” which appeared to include Soyuz flights. “The parties also discussed the arrangement to maintain the continued presence of Russian and American crews on the ISS,” the newspaper said.

NASA announced on February 9 that it was working to secure a seat for the next Soyuz mission to the ISS, Soyuz MS-18, which is scheduled to launch on April 9. The agency said it would secure the seat through the exchange of “in-kind services.” Rather than a direct purchase, an arrangement purported to involve third-party commercial space flight company Axiom Space.

This announcement was linked to the publication of a “wanted sources” procurement file, a necessary step to identify any other arrangement before concluding the transaction. The deadline to respond to the filing was February 19.

NASA officials have said little publicly about its efforts to secure the Soyuz headquarters, citing the ongoing procurement. “It’s an active buy right now, and I’m really not in a position to talk about it,” Kenny Todd, NASA deputy director of the ISS program, said in a Feb. 24 briefing on two outings. in space at the station.

Todd has declined to even say who NASA plans to fly in that Soyuz seat, if they get it. However, a press release from Roscosmos on February 24 which dealt with the training of Russian cosmonauts for the next mission appeared to confirm the identity of this astronaut.

In one image, cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrovnik were training in a simulator. The Soyuz MS-18 mission patch was visible on their flight suits, along with their names as well as “Vandei Hei”, an apparent reference to NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei. He was considered the most likely astronaut to pilot the mission, given he was Kate Rubins’ replacement on the previous Soyuz mission to the station last October, alongside Novitsky and Dubrovnik. Vande Hei had also been seen in some photos in recent months training alongside Russian cosmonauts assigned to the first and second ranks.

Roscosmos’ statement did not mention Vande Hei, nor did it mention Sergey Korsakov, who was originally assigned to the Soyuz MS-18. Rogozin told Russian news agency TASS on February 24 that the upcoming Soyuz flight would have “an international crew,” but did not specify.

NASA officials have long talked about having “mixed crews” on both Soyuz and commercial crew missions to the ISS, with one NASA swapping seats on the CST-100 Starliner and spacecraft. Crew Dragon in exchange for seats on the Soyuz spacecraft. This would ensure at least one Russian and one American at the station at all times should a vehicle experience issues that would put it out of service for an extended period.

This exchange will ultimately come through a deal between NASA and Roscosmos, but NASA officials have said it will not be done in time for April’s Soyuz mission. The process by which NASA, almost at the last minute, seeks a seat on the Soyuz launch has raised questions on Capitol Hill.

In a letter to Jurczyk on February 23, representatives Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) And Brian Babin (R-Texas), senior members of the plenary chamber science committee and its space subcommittee respectively, asked for a briefing on NASA. plans to secure the Soyuz seat. “After spending billions of taxpayer dollars to develop capabilities to launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil, it is important that Congress understands NASA’s existing agreements and future plans to access the Station. international space, ”they wrote.

NASA has not released its own reading of the appeal between Jurczyk and Rogozin, and the agency did not respond to a request for comment on the Russian statement.