Washington. December 20. INTERFAX - Roscosmos and NASA have reached preliminary agreements on the cross-flight program, the American side is awaiting approval from the Russian government, said Joel Montalbano, head of NASA's ISS program.
"Agreements must be signed between the State Department and Russian ministries, preliminary agreements are not at the state level. Now it's up to the Russian side, the Russian government," Montalbano said during a NASA teleconference dedicated to sending the Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station.
On December 17, the executive director of Roscosmos for manned programs, Sergey Krikalev, told Interfax that the state corporation and NASA have not yet come to a final agreement on the date for the resumption of flights of American astronauts on Soyuz within the framework of the cross-program.
Also, according to him, the Russian Federation and the United States have not yet approved the candidacy of Anna Kikina as the first representative of Russia to the crew of the Crew Dragon ship.
On December 8, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, reported that Kikina, the only woman in the Roscosmos cosmonaut squad, could become the first Russian cosmonaut to fly to the ISS on the American Crew Dragon ship as part of cross-flights.
On November 24, Nelson announced that the fate of the agreements between NASA and Roscosmos on cross-flights to the ISS and the extension of the use of the ISS will be decided following a meeting in Moscow with the head of the Russian state corporation. Nelson noted that the test of anti-satellite weapons conducted by the Russian military on November 15 will not affect the cooperation of NASA and Roscosmos on the ISS.
On November 17, Krikalev told Interfax that the state corporation and NASA had reached an agreement in principle on the resumption of "cross-over" flights, the text of the agreement is being coordinated in the government of the Russian Federation.
"There is a fundamental agreement. There are not even so much technical as documentary problems. Since this is a barter scheme, coordination is underway at the government level: documents are being prepared, words are being clarified, a normal working process is underway," Krikalev said.
On November 17, the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center, Maxim Kharlamov, told Interfax that the CPC had selected four candidates to prepare for flights on the American Crew Dragon ship. According to him, the candidates should be submitted to the state Commission for approval in the near future.
On October 6, the head of NASA's ISS program, Joel Montalbano, announced that the United States was preparing an agreement with Roscosmos on "cross-over" flights, the Russian cosmonaut, according to him, could fly on an American ship in the fall of 2022.
On October 29, the head of NASA's manned program, Kathy Luders, said that Roscosmos and NASA are considering the possibility of joint training for future "cross" flights to the ISS.
The Roscosmos annual report for 2020 reported on the preparation of a draft agreement with NASA on "cross-over" flights.
