NASA Deciding Whether Russian Cosmonaut Is Allowed on SpaceX Launch

NASA is still deciding whether to take a Russian cosmonaut along for the ride on a Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station later this year.

During a press conference about Crew-4, this week's mission to the space station, SpaceNews editor Jeff Foust inquired if a decision had been made on whether a cosmonaut would round out the crew of five astronauts.

The agency will likely have an answer by the middle of June, according to the manager.

It is a crucial decision, as Crew-5 could be the first time a Russian cosmonaut goes to the International Space Station on a Crew Dragon. It's not clear whether it will actually happen. Several major deep space missions were put on hold as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has caused a deep wedge between its space agency and the West.

Since the early 1990s, NASA and Russia have collaborated on sending astronauts into space. The first time a Russian cosmonaut traveled on board the Space Shuttle was in 1994 as part of the Shuttle-Mir program, which was designed to enable longer stays on the Mir, Russia's space station.

The last time a Russian cosmonaut flew to the International Space Station was in 2002, almost two decades ago, and less than a year before the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

After the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, NASA had to rely on Russia's Soyuz to populate the US segment of the outpost.

Thanks to its collaboration with SpaceX, NASA has established a reliable new way to do that: the company's Crew Dragon, which has delivered astronauts to the ISS on four occasions so far.

Last year, the head of the Roscosmos admitted that they would be able to put their cosmonauts on Crew Dragon in October.

I believe we will be in a position to discuss candidates who may be flying to the space station on board the Crew Dragon.

His tone has changed a lot since then. The space chief was so angry with the sanctions that he threatened the US with a falling space station.

Plans to send a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station on board a Crew Dragon remains to be seen. The crisis on the ground has not affected the operations of the International Space Station.

The seat barter agreement between the two space agencies is not certain at this point.

One of the few remaining tethers that ties Russia to the West is the ongoing operations of the International Space Station.

Montalbano is optimistic that Russia will approve the seat barter agreement based on discussions with Russian counterparts who are supportive of crew swaps.

There is a robot arm on the exterior of the space station.