Russian govt approves Roscosmos-NASA talks on annex to ISS cross-flights agreement

MOSCOW. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Roscosmos will hold talks with NASA over signing a second annex to their agreement on cross-flights to the International Space Station (ISS), a government document published on the official website of legal information on Monday said.

"To accept a proposal of the Roscosmos state space corporation [...] on holding negotiations over signing a second annex to the Agreement to implement the agreement between Roscosmos and National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States of America regarding crewed cross-flights on Russian and U.S. manned transport ships," the document said.

In July 2022, under the ISS program, Roscosmos and NASA signed an agreement on cross-flights of three Russian cosmonauts on U.S. Crew Dragon crewed spacecraft and three U.S. astronauts on Russian Soyuz MS crewed spacecraft in 2022-2024.

On March 1, Roscosmos said the Russian-U.S. ISS cross-flights agreement was expanded. Roscosmos and NASA agreed on an additional flight of a Russian cosmonaut to the space station on a Crew Dragon spacecraft. As reported, cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin will travel to the ISS as part of the Crew 8 mission in the first half of 2024.

Russia and the U.S. also agreed on an additional flight of an American astronaut on a Russian Soyuz MS spacecraft, Roscosmos Executive Director for Manned Space Programs Sergei Krikalev told Interfax. The experience of cross-flights to the ISS has been positive, and the parties believe the agreement should go beyond 2024, Krikalev said.

Roscosmos is drafting an additional agreement to extend such fights until 2025, its general director Yury Borisov said on September 15. The U.S. is interested in extending the agreement through to the ISS project's end, the director of NASA's space operations mission Kenneth Bowersox said.

Currently, two ISS missions are underway under the Roscosmos-NASA agreement. In September, Russia's Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft carrying Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara arrived at the ISS. In August, the U.S. Crew Dragon 7 spacecraft took Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov to the ISS.