SpaceX Crew-7 launch to ISS with Russian cosmonaut Borisov on board slated for Aug 15 - NASA

WASHINGTON. July 5 (Interfax) - The launch of the Crew Dragon reusable crewed spacecraft as part of SpaceX's seventh regular mission involving a crew including Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, among others, to the International Space Station (ISS) is slated for August 15, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States said on Wednesday.

"The earliest targeted launch date for the NASA's SpaceX Crew-7 mission is Tuesday, August 15, from Launch Complex 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida," NASA said in a statement on its website.

The spacecraft will be launched using a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle, the statement said.

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa will fly to the ISS alongside Borisov.

In July 2022, Roscosmos and NASA signed the cross flights agreement, enabling three Russian cosmonauts to fly to the ISS aboard U.S. Crew Dragon spacecraft and three U.S. astronauts to travel to the station on Russia's Soyuz MS in 2022-2024.

On March 1, Roscosmos reported the expansion of the Russia-U.S. agreement on integrated flights.

Roscosmos and NASA agreed an additional flight of a Russian cosmonaut to the ISS aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft, Roscosmos said. It was reported that Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin would join the Crew-8 mission in the first half of 2024.

Two ISS missions are currently in progress as part of the Roscosmos-NASA agreement. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio joined Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin aboard the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which was launched to the ISS in September 2022. They will return to Earth on Soyuz MS-23, which arrived at the station in February to replace the damaged Soyuz MS-22. Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei Fedyayev arrived at the ISS on board the Crew Dragon-6 in March.