Moscow. April 12th. INTERFAX-AVN - The majority of Russian authorities have agreed on a draft agreement with the United States on the resumption of cross-flights to the ISS, Roscosmos Executive Director for manned programs Sergey Krikalev said.
"We are in the process of approval, most of the federal executive authorities have already agreed on the project. Well, the draft agreement will be submitted to the government, in the future, depending on the timing of approval, we will plan cross-flights," he told reporters on Tuesday.
On April 2, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said that the state corporation would soon report to the country's leadership "specific proposals of Roscosmos on the timing of completion of cooperation within the ISS with the space agencies of the United States, Canada, the European Union and Japan."
"I believe that the restoration of normal relations between partners on the International Space Station and other joint projects is possible only with the complete and unconditional lifting of illegal sanctions," he said.
Earlier, the state corporation reported receiving letters from NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency with a response to the proposal to lift sanctions from the enterprises of the Russian space industry. As noted in the letters, the United States and Canada consider it their priority to continue the safe operation of the ISS. The head of NASA, Bill Nelson, noted that the existing US sanctions do not affect the operation of the station.
Roscosmos linked the response to this proposal with the fate of the agreement on the resumption of cross-flights to the ISS and the extension of the station's operation.
On March 14, NASA program manager at the ISS Joel Montalbano said that negotiations on cross-flights between NASA and Roscosmos were continuing, American astronauts would soon travel to Russia for training on Soyuz.
On February 24, the press service of the state corporation reported that Roscosmos continues to fulfill its obligations to work on the ISS, work on the agreement on cross-flights with the United States is also continuing.
On January 20, Roscosmos reported that if an agreement on cross-flights between Russia and the United States is signed, NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio will join the crew of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft instead of Anna Kikina, who will go to the ISS on the American Crew Dragon ship.
According to the state corporation, the flight of the American Crew Dragon ship, the crew of which may include Kikina, will take place in August 2022. Earlier, NASA reported that the launch of the spacecraft is scheduled for the fall of 2022.
On December 27, 2021, Rogozin, in an interview with The New York Times, said that the Russian Federation and the United States plan to carry out one joint flight per year from 2022 to 2024 as part of the cross-flight program.
On January 13, Rogozin announced that the draft agreement was being approved by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Since 2011, the delivery of crews to the ISS was carried out only by Russian ships, before that there was a cross-system, according to which American astronauts received seats on Russian ships, and Russian cosmonauts - on American ones. In 2020, NASA reported that they were negotiating with Roscosmos on the return of the crossover system.
