The United Arab Emirates and the United States may demand compensation from Russia for its failure to meet the deadlines to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), a source in the rocket and space industry told Sputnik.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2018) The United Arab Emirates and the United States may demand compensation from Russia for its failure to meet the deadlines to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), a source in the rocket and space industry told Sputnik.
"The flight of an Arab astronaut will definitely move forward for about half a year. Other terms are written in the contract, which means we will incur some losses. It is not ruled out that they may demand compensation from us for not meeting the deadlines. Plus we did not deliver the American astronaut, and they paid for his flight. We lost the spacecraft and the rocket without fulfilling our commitment to NASA, so we will have to give them a new slot," he said.
On Thursday, an accident occurred during the liftoff of a Soyuz-FG launch vehicle carrying the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft with two new members of the ISS crew on board - Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague. The crew has safely returned to Earth in a jettisoned escape capsule.
The source also said the flight of two Russian newbie cosmonauts to the ISS, previously slated for next fall, was expected to be delayed until 2020.
"An expedition with cosmonauts Tikhonov and Babkin, who have not flown yet, was planned for next fall. They will not fly at that time now because the UAE astronaut and, possibly, the American astronaut will most likely fly, while an experienced Russian cosmonaut will take the third slot," he said.
