Next SpaceX-NASA Missions Seeking To Rope In Russian Cosmonauts

NASA is trying to rope in Russian cosmonauts for its next two SpaceX crew rotation missions- crew-7 and crew-8.

What Happened: NASA associate administrator for space operations Kathy Lueders said that negotiations are ongoing to update the existing agreement with Roscosmos to add the crew-7 mission to the International Space Station, reported Space News. Lueders was speaking at a briefing post-crew-6 launch.

NASA and Roscosmos signed a seat barter agreement last July. As per the agreement, the two agencies will swap a seat on a Soyuz for a seat on a commercial crew.

Last week, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev flew with Crew-6, to join Expedition 68 crew which includes other cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin, and Anna Kikina. While Soyuz MS-22 transported Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin to the space station last September, Anna Kikina flew aboard Crew-5.

"We're working that through the Russian government and then back through, obviously, our side to get a final agreement. That's our goal, to get this to be able to support integrated crews," said Lueders, as quoted by Space News.

Crew-7 mission is expected to launch later this year during the fall. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen have already been confirmed for the crew.

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