SpaceX's Crew Dragon approaches the ISS on the Crew-9 mission. Credit: NASA
WASHINGTON — NASA and Roscosmos have agreed to continue exchanging seats between Soyuz and Crew Dragon spacecraft, but that agreement does not yet extend to Starliner.
Russian media reported in July, after a meeting between NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Bakanov, that the two had agreed “in principle” to extend an agreement between the agencies to barter seats between the two spacecraft on International Space Station missions. That allows NASA astronauts to fly on Soyuz while Roscosmos cosmonauts fly on Crew Dragon and thus ensures both NASA and Roscosmos personnel can remain on the station if either vehicle is out of service for an extended period.
NASA officials did not immediately confirm that report or provide a readout of Isaacman’s meeting with Bakanov. It was the first face-to-face meeting between the two and also marked the first visit by a NASA administrator to Russia or the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan since 2018.
During an Aug. 3 briefing about the upcoming Crew-13 mission to the ISS, whose crew again includes a Russian cosmonaut, NASA officials confirmed that they have extended the seat barter agreement but provided few details about the extension.
