US Wants Astronauts To Join Russia's Soyuz Spacecraft

NASA wants its astronauts to join Roscosmos' spacecraft, Soyuz (Spaceflight Insider)

JAKARTA - The United States (US) is said to want to reserve passenger seats on the Soyuz rocket belonging to the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) for its astronauts. This is intended as a precautionary measure in the event of a problem aboard a spacecraft belonging to the United States Space Agency (NASA).

Roscosmos Deputy Director General for International Cooperation, Sergey Saveliev said that the US wants to get a seat on the Soyuz next spring. In this case the US is relying on Russian assistance, but Roscosmos has not made further statements.

"America left this opportunity [to get the Soyuz seat in the spring of 2022] as an option, relying on help and assistance from Russia, but I can't say anything more specifically," Saveliev was quoted as saying by Sputnik News.

In June, NASA was rumored to be buying Soyuz seats for sending their astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in the spring of 2022.

In April, the Soyuz spacecraft successfully flew three astronauts to the ISS, consisting of 2 Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Oleg Novitskiy, and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

For information, the US has often reserved a seat on the Soyuz spacecraft since 2006. Uncle Sam's country has already purchased 70 seats on a Soyuz rocket to carry its astronauts.