MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) The Soyuz spacecraft will remain the mainstay of the Russian space program until at least 2030, the head of the state space corporation Roscosmos said on Monday.
Dmitry Rogozin confirmed to Russian radio station KP that the new space ship, Orel, will start ferrying cosmonauts to the orbiting outpost from 2025.
"But I can tell you that I am certain the Soyuz MS will serve us for at least another decade. That is why we will initially alternate Soyuz MS missions with those of the new craft," he said.
Soyuz is the longest-serving manned spacecraft design in the history of space exploration. It was designed by Soviet engineers under Sergei Korolev and made its maiden flight in 1967. Its revamped version, Soyuz MS, first flew in 2016.
