The head of Roscosmos allowed cross flights not on a commercial basis
MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/. The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, ruled out the possibility of carrying out flights of Russian cosmonauts only on American ships, but allowed cross-flights not on a commercial basis.
"Are we ready to abandon our ship and transfer to Crew Dragon and Starliner? I already said no. Our ship has excellent reliability and safety statistics, can fly to the ISS, unlike its competitors, in just a record three hours, has a household compartment for astronauts to rest in case they have to stay in orbit, " Rogozin wrote on his Facebook page on Monday.
The head of Roscosmos recalled that the cost of a chair in the "Union"is much cheaper than the proposals of competitors and will remain so. According to Rogozin, in 2023, the flight tests of the "lunar" reusable manned ship "Eagle" will start, in connection with which the state corporation does not need other people's services. "And the offer to fly on a Starliner looks strange. Tests of this ship produced by Boeing ended in failure, in September, NASA plans to test it again, but again without a crew. Therefore, it is clearly premature to fantasize about flying on this ship, " Rogozin explained.
At the same time, the general director of the state corporation allowed cross-flights of Russian cosmonauts on American ships, and American astronauts on Russian "Unions" not on a commercial basis, but by offsetting for seats. "But I will make a reservation once again, our specialists must confirm to me that the American ships have passed all the necessary flight tests and provide the most important thing in manned space exploration - the safety of the crew," he added.
Rogozin considered the possibility of cross-flights useful from the point of view of technical redundancy and maintaining partnership in space. The head of the state corporation also confirmed that the Russian side has already identified candidates for such flights.
