...This deal doesn't really help in this case. The Russians aren't likely to evacuate the Russian segment just so the U.S. doesn't have to evacuate theirs (to save a USOS astronaut). Or leave a Russian cosmonaut up without a Soyuz just so the U.S. doesn't have to do the same.
Their "Trampoline", apparently, works so-so. Flights to the ISS are not stable, and therefore there was an urgent need to hedge and send [their guy] on our ship. " According to Rogozin, the American side will pay for this flight, and Roscosmos will direct the money to the development of the company.
Hard to say but it's difficult to take Rogozin' words at face value, given the amount of spin in them:Quote from: the articleTheir "Trampoline", apparently, works so-so. Flights to the ISS are not stable, and therefore there was an urgent need to hedge and send [their guy] on our ship. " According to Rogozin, the American side will pay for this flight, and Roscosmos will direct the money to the development of the company.
Quote from: yg1968 on 03/13/2021 03:29 pmHard to say but it's difficult to take Rogozin' words at face value, given the amount of spin in them:Quote from: the articleTheir "Trampoline", apparently, works so-so. Flights to the ISS are not stable, and therefore there was an urgent need to hedge and send [their guy] on our ship. " According to Rogozin, the American side will pay for this flight, and Roscosmos will direct the money to the development of the company.You know the feeling when you go to the local car salesman and come away with "mhhh, sounds a bit funny"? That is the feeling I have on this deal. Firstly, it is well documented and not more than a fact that the Russian government has a very loose relationship with facts. Secondly, upthread someone mentioned "now the President does not need to involved". Right, alarm bells. We do have sanctions against Russia for very good reasons and NASA OIG will have a fun time with urgent double checking that all i's where dotted and all t's are crossed. Finally, giving NASA's history of working constructively with Roscosmos and astronauts flying on Soyuz, suddenly involving an unproven middleman when Commercial Crew is online sounds, questionable maybe, and as a tax payer I'd like OIG to double check that we are getting a good deal.
Many other major projects and programs, though, saw far lower cost increases. The commercial crew program experienced $2.2 million in cost increases in 2020 and $2.3 million projected for future years. The 2020 increase came from the use of NASA aircraft for mission-essential travel during the pandemic and “socially distanced lodging” for astronauts and other personnel ahead of the Demo-2 and Crew-1 launches in May and November of 2020, respectively.
Another benefit of fixed cost contract, very little additional cost to NASA due to covid: Pandemic to cost NASA up to $3 billionQuoteMany other major projects and programs, though, saw far lower cost increases. The commercial crew program experienced $2.2 million in cost increases in 2020 and $2.3 million projected for future years. The 2020 increase came from the use of NASA aircraft for mission-essential travel during the pandemic and “socially distanced lodging” for astronauts and other personnel ahead of the Demo-2 and Crew-1 launches in May and November of 2020, respectively.
Steve Jurczyk, NASA’s acting administrator, said Tuesday that the draft version of an “implementing agreement” between NASA and Roscosmos is still being reviewed by the U.S. State Department.“We’re waiting for the final signatures from the State Department on the implementing agreement, and then we’ll provide that draft to Roscosmos and begin negotiations,” Jurczyk told Spaceflight Now in an interview.He said he believes NASA is close to getting final State Department approval of the agreement’s text, but the clock has likely run out for getting the State Department signatures and finalizing the agreement with the Russian government in time to assign a Russian cosmonaut to a SpaceX crew mission later this year.
Jurczyk: plan is to alternate Crew Dragon and Starliner missions but may revisit that with delay in Starliner. Haven't had discussions w/the companies yet for forward work.
I asked acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk about the forward plans for Starliner and Crew Dragon flights, now that SpaceX Crew-3 could launch before Starliner CFT:
Leading up to the launch, NASA officials said that, after a decade of development, the commercial crew program — or, at least, SpaceX’s vehicle in that program — had clearly moved into operations. “It’s very, very exciting to be in this operational cadence,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, during an April 15 press conference after the flight readiness review for the Crew-2 mission, which also reviewed plans to return Crew-1 to Earth.Kimbrough, the commander of Crew-2, said this mission was the first to follow the streamlined training flow that future missions will use. “We’re the first ones to have gone through what we hope to be the templated flows for future crews,” he said at an April 17 press conference.That revised training program, he said, combines training on the Crew Dragon spacecraft with that for the ISS. “It’s a little less than a year of training, where the crews in front of us had several years of training. Instead of being more developmental, it’s more operational now.”
NASA chief: Russian cosmonauts unlikely fly on U.S. crew capsules until next yearQuoteSteve Jurczyk, NASA’s acting administrator, said Tuesday that the draft version of an “implementing agreement” between NASA and Roscosmos is still being reviewed by the U.S. State Department.“We’re waiting for the final signatures from the State Department on the implementing agreement, and then we’ll provide that draft to Roscosmos and begin negotiations,” Jurczyk told Spaceflight Now in an interview.He said he believes NASA is close to getting final State Department approval of the agreement’s text, but the clock has likely run out for getting the State Department signatures and finalizing the agreement with the Russian government in time to assign a Russian cosmonaut to a SpaceX crew mission later this year.
Tidbit from Steve Stich in stark contrast to Space X's success. The CST Boeing re-flight of OFT-2 won't fly till Aug/Sep...
SPX-23 is now on the range schedule for 28 Aug. Because the of the OFT-2 mission profile at the ISS. OFT-2 would have to launch on or before 15 Aug or <4 days from now. Basically not gonna happen!!!!Which because SPX-23 is at the ISS until 30 Sep. And the rest of the ISS VV schedule for Oct is chock full of VV activities from the Russian side with Crew 3 capping the ending of the month off. October is out as well. So OFT-2 looks to be now a slip of at least 3 months to November. If OFT-2 launches in Nov and everything works correctly. The best for CFT would be at least 3 months later (time it takes for all the extensive data reviews to certify ready for crew). That is February 2022 which at this point the VV schedules that far out are fairly fluid.Meaning Starliner will not likely be doing Crew 4 but Crew 5 in the Fall. Crew 4 would be by Dragon.
