ESA Seeking More Astronauts To Send To ISS Amid High Interest From Member States - Head

ESA Seeking More Astronauts to Send to ISS Amid High Interest From Member States - Head

The European Space Agency is not looking to extend the stay of its astronauts in space but wants more of them to have the opportunity to go there and visit the International Space Station, ESA Director General Jan Woerner told Sputnik

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th April, 2019) The European Space Agency is not looking to extend the stay of its astronauts in space but wants more of them to have the opportunity to go there and visit the International Space Station, ESA Director General Jan Woerner told Sputnik.

"We have a lot of interest from European member states to send astronauts to the station. Therefore, we are not looking for longer stays, but for more astronauts to stay," Woerner said.

The ESA, he added, is always looking for half a year but some of it depends on working with NASA.

"It always depends also on what is called the barter element," Woerner said. "ESA doesn't have its own direct possibility to go to the station, so this is done always through a barter with NASA."

When asked about possible conditions for European astronauts to fly on private US spaceships, Woerner said ESA was happy with its current arrangement with Soyuz.

"We are flying with Soyuz, with very experienced people in Russia producing Soyuz. So, I'm happy if we can send astronauts in the future with Soyuz into space," he said.

But Woerner said if NASA decides to start using private companies to send astronauts into orbit, ESA would have to follow the US space agency's lead under the current barter arrangement.

"But let's see what we can do, how we can discuss it also with Russia, maybe we can achieve something in that direction," Woerner added.

Russia's Soyuz is scheduled to launch the ESA's Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov to the International Space Station on July 20.