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Russia says contract with US on astronauts’ delivery to space station to expire in 2019

Three more launches are planned to be carried out before the end of this year

KOROLYOV /Moscow Region/, August 31. /TASS/. Russia’s contractual obligations for delivering US astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) will expire in April 2019, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told reporters on Friday.

"The landing of a Soyuz MS spacecraft in April will complete the fulfillment of our obligations under a contract with NASA related to the delivery of US astronauts to the ISS and their return from the station," the vice-premier said at a meeting held at the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation on the problems of piloted cosmonautics in the process of fulfilling long-term space exploration programs.

Three more launches are planned to be carried out before the end of this year, Borisov said.

"In 2022, in accordance with the [Russian] president’s instructions, the flights tests of a manned new-generation space ship aboard a Soyuz-5 medium carrier rocket are planned to be held in an automatic mode from the Baikonur cosmodrome and in 2024 these tests are expected to be conducted in a piloted mode," the deputy prime minister said.