NASA plans to expand integrated flight deal with Russian space agency through 2024: Report

NASA is planning to expand the integrated flight deal with Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, TASS News reported. According to the Russian media house, this announcement was made by Joel Montalbano, the manager of NASA's International Space Station (ISS) program, during a press briefing on Thursday.

The NASA official said that the US space agency will " do an update to the agreement", in order to work on a long-term goal of cross-flights to the ISS after Boeing Space's crewed Starliner mission targeted for December this year. "We wanted to have a couple of Boeing missions moving forward, and right after CFT we will be putting that in work, but everybody understands it’s a long-term goal and we just have to do this in steps", the official said as per TASS.

The cross-flights agreement is the deal between NASA and Roscosmos wherein a Russian cosmonaut will fly to the ISS in an American spacecraft in return for an American astronaut's trip in a Soyuz capsule. During the same interview, Montalbano revealed that this agreement will be in force through the end of 2024, with one integrated mission in 2022, 2023 and 2024 each. 

The first integrated mission targeted for Sept 29

NASA's Crew-5 mission is the first of the agreement targeted for launch on September 29 this year. NASA has contracted SpaceX to launch the mission using its two-stage Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Consisting of a crew of four, the Crew-5 includes two NASA astronauts, one Japanese and one Russian. This Russian member is Anna Kikina, who is currently the only active female cosmonaut in Russia. 

A certified airborne instructor, Kikina will script history by becoming the first cosmonaut to ride a private American space capsule. Kikina will be accompanied by NASA's Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada and Japan's Koichi Wakata. Tap here to read more about the mission. SpaceX will launch the astronauts in its Crew Dragon, which has been refurbished and added with a new heatshield, parachutes, and pod panels.