Despite their extremely tense relations, Russia and the USA are planning two more joint flights to the International Space Station (ISS), according to Moscow sources. The Russian agency Interfax reported this on Thursday, citing the head of the Russian manned space program, Sergei Krikalyov.
It had previously been announced that a so-called cruise flight was planned for the beginning of 2024, in which Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebjonkin would fly to the ISS together with a US crew on board a SpaceX capsule. The agreement that has now been reached makes at least one more flight possible in which an American astronaut climbs into a Russian Soyuz capsule, it was said in Moscow.
The ISS is one of the few objects on which Americans and Russians are still working together despite Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Russia keeps talking about building its own orbit station. But the ISS could still be operated together until 2028. Cosmonauts and astronauts have also repeatedly flown into space together.
