Roscosmos, the agency responsible for Russia's civilian space program, will work to build a new Soyuz spacecraft for NASA. A second shuttle for tourist flights will also come out of its factories.
Since 2011, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is forced to use its Russian counterpart to send men and resources to the International Space Station (ISS). Why? Because since that date, the United States no longer have shuttles provided for this purpose, the fault of several fatal accidents that occurred in recent decades.
Delay in commercial flights
Consequences: The Americans have no choice but to use the famous Russian Soyuz rockets, which therefore enjoy a certain monopoly here. Although the deal should soon change with the appearance of US private actors, like SpaceX, which could reduce the dependence of the country of Uncle Sam to his best enemy forever.
Except that this independence does not seem to be relevant today in view of the latest information published by the Russian news agency Tass. NASA Director Jim Bridenstine has written a letter to his Roscosmos counterpart, Dmitry Rogozin, asking him to build a new Soyuz MS spacecraft to transport American astronauts.
Additional seats
A delay in commercial spaceflight thus prompted Mr. Bridenstine to contact him, who allocated a new budget in this area.This collaboration will allow the US to add additional seats aboard the planned Soyuz spacecraft in 2020-2021. Another Soyuz rocket intended for tourist flights will also be manufactured.
Source: Engadget
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