Russian cosmonauts to fly to ISS aboard U.S. Crew Dragon spacecraft 3 times

MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) - The cross-flights agreement signed between Roscosmos and NASA envisages three flights of Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft of the United States, Oleg Kononenko, commander of cosmonauts' detachment, said.

"The agreement envisages three integrated flights - as part of the fifth, sixth and tenth Dragon [flights]," the website of the Cosmonaut Training Center quoted Kononenko as saying.

NASA said on Thursday that the first launch of a Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of the integrated flights agreement between Russia and the U.S. would take place not earlier than September 29.

Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata will fly to the ISS.

The second flight as part of the cross-flight program will take place in the fall of 2023. Russian cosmonaut Andrei Fedyayev will fly to the ISS aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and Loral O'Hara will join the Soyuz MS-23 crew.

On July 15, Roscosmos said that the agreement on joint exchange flights of Russian and U.S. cosmonauts to the ISS had been signed.