Russian and U.S. officials from NASA signed a joint agreement Friday that will allow astronauts from both countries to share transportation to the International Space Station.
The new deal will let U.S. astronauts travel to the space station through Russian Soyuz space shuttles and cosmonauts from Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, depart from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The move will ensure that at least one U.S. and one Russian official will always remain on the station to oversee maintenance issues and spacewalks, NASA said Friday.
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“The agreement is in the interests of Russia and the United States and will promote the development of cooperation within the framework of the ISS program,” Roscosmos said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The first integrated flight is expected to depart from a Russian base in Kazakhstan in September, when U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio will launch into space alongside Russia’s Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin. Another departure in September will see Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina join two Americans and a Japanese astronaut on board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. Kikina has been preparing for her flight at a NASA facility in Houston while the agreement was being negotiated, the outlet reported.
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Negotiations between Russia and the United States were stalled earlier this year as the tension between the agencies increased after Russia invaded Ukraine. Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of Russia’s space agency, warned NASA that he could cause the space station to crash or dissolve the partnership if the U.S. remained hostile toward Russia. However, Rogozin was removed as the head of the agency on Friday and has since been replaced by Yuri Borisov, a former deputy prime minister and deputy defense minister, the Kremlin announced, according to the Washington Post.
