NASA plans to buy additional Soyuz seats

SEATTLE – NASA plans to buy two more seats on the Soyuz spacecraft to ensure a continued US presence on the International Space Station, fearing further delays in commercial flight crews.

In a notice of presence filed on February 13, NASA announced that it was planning to enter into a contract with the Russian state space company Roscosmos for two Soyuz seats, one on the launch of 39, a mission in the fall of 2019 and the other in the spring of 2020. The opinion was the first reported by NASASpaceFlight.com.

The extra seats would allow NASA astronauts to stay on the station after the end of this year, when NASA will no longer have access to Soyuz seats. "This acquisition of Soyuz seats ensures uninterrupted access to the ISS in the event of delayed commercial aircraft launches in the United States, which mitigates the significant risk to the safety and operations of the aircraft. ISS that the absence of American crew members at any time would cause ". reviews states.

NASA had originally planned to develop commercial crew vehicles under development by Boeing and SpaceX by the end of 2017. Both companies, however, suffered significant delays, and no difference between them. they still piloted their vehicles during unmanned test flights, let alone those with astronauts board. SpaceX is expected to launch its Dragon Crew spacecraft on a test flight without astronauts on board no earlier than March 2.

NASA's most recent public call for both vehicles to complete their crew flights by the end of the summer, but these plans are subject to further delays. "Past experience has shown the difficulties associated with making the first flights at the scheduled time in the last year of development. Typically, problems will be discovered during these test flights, "NASA says in the document's procurement. "The consequences of the absence of an American crew on ISS deserve to be protected by the acquisition of additional seats."

Both seats would guarantee that NASA astronauts would remain on the station until September 2020, by which time the agency expects that at least one of the two vehicles will be there. Commercial crew is certified and begins flying astronauts. Although both vehicles are certified before that date, NASA says that the overlap between Soyuz and the commercial crew will be beneficial.

"The overlap with the capacity of the US commercial teams is needed to allow a smooth and safe transition to a new US capability," the document says. "This overlap in the crew's transport capacity ensures the safety of operations and ongoing research activities on ISS."

NASA has regularly purchased Soyuz seats in Roscosmos, although at steadily increasing prices in the post-shuttle era, when it was developing commercial crew vehicles. The last contract, signed in 2015, covered Soyuz's headquarters in missions to the ISS until 2018. At that time, NASA was still waiting for the vehicles to Commercial crew be commissioned by the end of 2017.

In 2017, NASA agreed to buy five Soyuz seats at Boeing, which had obtained them under an agreement with RSC Energia to settle a legal dispute over Sea Launch. Two of the seats were used to increase the size of NASA's crew on the station in 2017 and 2018, while three were reserved for crew transportation to the ISS in 2019 as a way of protection against delays of commercial crews.

The way the two Soyuz seats became available is unclear. In late 2016, shortly before buying seats in Boeing, NASA officials said it was too late to contract directly with Roscosmos because of the required multi-year delay. NASA spokespersons did not respond to the Feb. 15 request for comment regarding these seats or the estimated price by NASA would pay them to Roscosmos.

The latest annual report of the Advisory Committee on Aerospace Security (ASAP), an independent board that advises NASA on security issues, recommended NASA develop an emergency plan to access the station if Commercial flight crews experienced further delays.

"Because of the risk of delay in the timing of the first [commercial crew program] Crewed flights and NASA officials should work with the administration and Congress to ensure that US crew members have continued access to ISS until the United States' ability crew at ISS is established, "says the report. NASA did not provide an official response to this recommendation at the time of printing the report.