Russia, Europe to Prepare Agreement on Astronauts Flights on Soyuz Rockets - Rogozin
Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos and the European Space Agency (ESA) will prepare a bilateral agreement for the delivery of European astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2019) Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos and the European Space Agency (ESA) will prepare a bilateral agreement for the delivery of European astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, ESA Director General Jan Woerner said on the sidelines of the MAKS-2019 international air show in the Moscow Region's Zhukovsky that the ESA would be ready to send its astronauts to the ISS in the future on Soyuz spacecraft, but this requires appropriate agreements with Roscosmos.
"ESA is ready to send its astronauts to the ISS on Russian manned spacecraft. The order to prepare a corresponding direct bilateral agreement between Roscosmos and ESA has been given," Rogozin said on Twitter.
European astronauts are currently flying to the ISS on Soyuz spacecraft under the US quota, taking the place of US astronauts in accordance with an agreement between the ESA and NASA. There has never been a deal between Roscosmos and the ESA.
On July 31, the head of the ESA's office in Moscow, Rene Pischel, told Sputnik that in the coming years, Europeans will fly into space only on new US spacecraft.