Russia will make its decision on astronaut seat-swap with NASA by June: Roscosmos Chief

A decision on whether Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina will fly on a SpaceX capsule or not will be made by early June this year, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin has said. The Russian space agency and NASA have made an agreement wherein a cosmonaut would be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in a US-made spacecraft in exchange for an American astronaut in a Russian-made Soyuz spacecraft later. Needless to say, the agreement is hanging by a thread owing to the sanctions imposed on Moscow by Western nations for invading Ukraine. 

Earlier this week, Rogozin had said, “I hope that the decision (on seat swap flights) will be made and announced in the first ten-day period of June, if not until the end of May”, Russian media house TASS reported. He further revealed that the approvals for the SpaceX flight have entered the final stages and said that he will not “rule out that she (Kikina) will go into space as part of seat swap flights”. 

According to TASS, Sergey Krikalyov, the Roscosmos Executive Director for Manned Space Programs, revealed in April that most of Russia's federal executive authorities have already approved a draft agreement on the seat-swap flights to the ISS. At a press briefing before the launch of NASA's Crew-4, Joel Montalbano, NASA ISS programme manager had shown optimism about Russia's cooperation in the space sector saying that the US is awaiting approval from Russia's Foreign Ministry. Montalbano also had predicted a decision by June. 

Anna Kikina to become the 1st female cosmonaut on a US spacecraft

If Roscosmos approves Kikina's flight in the SpaceX Dragon capsule, she would become the first female cosmonaut to fly in an American-made spacecraft. Roscosmos has plans to send her to the ISS under the NASA Crew-5 mission, which is targeted for launch no earlier than the fall of 2022.

Currently, the cosmonaut, who is Russia's only active cosmonaut, is training in the US to learn how to operate a Dragon spacecraft. Under Crew-5, Kikina will be accompanied by two NASA astronauts, Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, and one Japanese astronaut, Koichi Wakata.