The group of Russian cosmonauts to fly on #CrewDragon and #Starliner to ISS by the program of seat exchange has been selected, said Pavel Vlasov, the head of Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Andrei Borisenko (Soyuz TMA-21, Soyuz MS-02) is one of them. https://ria.ru/amp/20200306/1568224012.html
No contracts or other administrative documents have been signed yet as both ships are in process of certification for the regular flights. Pavel Vlasov noted, that the Russian cosmonauts will fly on the new ships only when their safety is proved.
The cosmonauts will not fly as pilots on the new American ships, they will have no commanding functions at all. Vlasov also said that preliminary negotiations are being held with the American side on the production of appropriate equipment for Russian cosmonauts.
NASA has completed the crew for the first operational SpaceX commercial crew mission to the International Space Station, one that will not include any Russian cosmonauts after Roscosmos officials said they would not fly on what they consider an unproven vehicle.
(Tom) Stafford said that Russian officials, who met with Stafford’s committee in Houston in December, were reticent to fly cosmonauts on what to them are unproven vehicles. “The Russian side noted that, prior to agreeing to the mixed crew plan, there needs to be successful USCV launches,” he said. “Roscosmos will consider participation after successful launches, but will not participate in the first launch of the vehicle.”
Makes me wonder after how many operational launches the Russians will consider Crew Dragon (or Starliner) "proven"
Quote from: woods170 on 04/01/2020 09:24 amMakes me wonder after how many operational launches the Russians will consider Crew Dragon (or Starliner) "proven"To be honest, Russians do not need to fly on U.S. spacecrafts at all. We can do Soyuz direct rotations for replace spacecrafts. We flew so in 2003-2005 when Space Shuttles were grounded.In 2017 Sergey Krikalyov in Australia told us that the offer to change seats was originated from NASA. U.S. do not want to pay for Soyuz seats anymore, so they offered to fly Russians on their spacecrafts through barter.
Roscosmos would regret making that decision if they end up in a Soyuz MS-10 situation
With Soyuz being the only way for cosmonauts to go to the ISS and flying only twice a year means an in flight abort will mean a gap in russian presence at the ISS
Good luck with those Soyuz boosters, make sure y'all install them properly. I hope Boeing does the same with their parachutes as well
Quote from: Alexphysics on 04/01/2020 06:18 pmRoscosmos would regret making that decision if they end up in a Soyuz MS-10 situationIt could happens with any launch provider.Quote from: Alexphysics on 04/01/2020 06:18 pmWith Soyuz being the only way for cosmonauts to go to the ISS and flying only twice a year means an in flight abort will mean a gap in russian presence at the ISSWhy? The landing of old Soyuz will be delayed and the next new Soyuz will be launched after investigation. No problem at all.Quote from: Alexphysics on 04/01/2020 06:18 pmGood luck with those Soyuz boosters, make sure y'all install them properly. I hope Boeing does the same with their parachutes as wellEven SpaceX does mistakes.
Can a Soyuz stay up for a year on the ISS?
Quote from: Alexphysics on 04/02/2020 01:35 amCan a Soyuz stay up for a year on the ISS?IIRC, Soyuz lifetime docked to ISS is approximately 7 months = 210 days.
Quote from: zubenelgenubi on 04/02/2020 09:08 amQuote from: Alexphysics on 04/02/2020 01:35 amCan a Soyuz stay up for a year on the ISS?IIRC, Soyuz lifetime docked to ISS is approximately 7 months = 210 days.That was my main point... 2 Soyuz flights per year each one every 6 months or so. The old Soyuz can't wait for another 6 months until the next Soyuz if the one in the middle fails to reach the ISS. Same goes backwards if it happens to the US crew vehicles. Dismissing a deal like that is risking the program imo
Quote from: Alexphysics on 04/02/2020 01:09 pmQuote from: zubenelgenubi on 04/02/2020 09:08 amQuote from: Alexphysics on 04/02/2020 01:35 amCan a Soyuz stay up for a year on the ISS?IIRC, Soyuz lifetime docked to ISS is approximately 7 months = 210 days.That was my main point... 2 Soyuz flights per year each one every 6 months or so. The old Soyuz can't wait for another 6 months until the next Soyuz if the one in the middle fails to reach the ISS. Same goes backwards if it happens to the US crew vehicles. Dismissing a deal like that is risking the program imoIn typical Russian fashion a failure of Soyuz will not result in a stand-down of six months, let alone more.Just look at Soyuz MS-10. The stand-down was less than two months.The previous failure with a manned Soyuz was in 1983. The famous T-10A pad abort. Stand-down: 4.5 months. And that was one of the longest stand-downs in Soyuz history.So, previous stand-downs of the Soyuz system were pretty much all well below six months in length. Some of them as short as just 10 days.
Soyuz MS-11 was already ready for a December 2018 launch anyways. Unless they can speed up readiness of the next spacecraft, if they lose the attempt of going to the ISS, the spacecraft may still take months until it's ready to go. The point is not about being able to fly again the rocket but flying the next spacecraft in the line which is not something you can't easily or quickly. They better have a plan B
The landing of the old Soyuz can be delayed by 6 months until the next one is ready?
IIRC, Soyuz lifetime docked to ISS is approximately 7 months = 210 days
Particularly this last bolded statement is peculiar IMO. By the time the first operational launch of Crew Dragon take place, the vehicle will have flown at least twice: DM-1 and DM-2. Same for Starliner.Makes me wonder after how many operational launches the Russians will consider Crew Dragon (or Starliner) "proven".
Quote from: woods170 on 04/01/2020 09:24 amParticularly this last bolded statement is peculiar IMO. By the time the first operational launch of Crew Dragon take place, the vehicle will have flown at least twice: DM-1 and DM-2. Same for Starliner.Makes me wonder after how many operational launches the Russians will consider Crew Dragon (or Starliner) "proven".Well, Russians usually wait many launches before accepting any LV/SV as operative. And to be frank, DM-1 was not feature complete. I would guess after 3 crewed launches would be the bare minimum for them to accept a barter.Of course Soyuz is 142/144 on LOC and 138/144 on successful missions, so they can say they require high reliability.
Jurczyk: haven't completely given up on having Russian on Crew-3 but more likely on Crew-4. So haven't decided who will fill that fourth seat on Crew-3 and how long Vande Hei will stay on ISS.