Russia and the United States have reached a deal to resume integrated flights to the International Space Station despite the geopolitical tensions over the war in Ukraine.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The agreement announced by the two sides on Friday allows for US astronauts to travel on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft and Russian cosmonauts to get a ride on SpaceX rockets launched from Florida.
"The agreement is in line with the interests of Russia and the US," Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
It would ensure that in the event of delayed or cancelled rocket launches, at least one member of Roscosmos and one member of US space agency NASA would always be on the ISS, the statement continued.
A NASA statement also cited safety issues and the need to maintain a continuous presence on the ISS.
The first astronauts to be hosted on so-called "cross flights" would be US astronaut Francisco Rubion, who is to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in September, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, who is to launch from Cape Canaveral in the last months of the year.
US astronauts had been flying into space on Russian Soyuz rockets from Baikonur until 2020.
After that, manned ISS flights also took off from US soil again.
NASA relies on the Crew Dragon space transporter from the private company SpaceX.
In view of Russia's war against Ukraine, there had recently been some speculation about how Russian-US space cooperation would continue.
The previous head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, was seen as a hardliner loyal to the Kremlin.
On Friday, the 58-year-old was replaced by the former vice-governor Yuri Borisov.
It is not yet known what Rogozin's professional future will be.
According to media reports, he could either take a leading post in the presidential administration or administer one of the separatist regions in eastern Ukraine recognized by Russia as independent.
Australian Associated Press
