NEW YORK, June 17. /TASS/. Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov has been officially confirmed as part of the team of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station in mid-August, NASA said in a statement on Saturday.
"The final crew member for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission, currently targeted to launch to the International Space Station in mid-August, has been announced," the statement from NASA reads. "Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov will fly as a mission specialist on SpaceX’s seventh rotational mission to the orbiting laboratory for NASA."
"Borisov joins previously named crew members NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and astronaut Satoshi Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)," the statement from NASA continued. "This will be the first spaceflight for Borisov, who entered the Roscosmos Cosmonaut Corps as a test cosmonaut candidate in 2018."
"A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch Crew-7 aboard a Dragon spacecraft, named Endurance, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft previously flew NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 and Crew-5 missions," according to the US space agency.
"NASA and Roscosmos fly integrated crews on U.S. crew spacecraft and on the Soyuz spacecraft to ensure continued safe operations of the International Space Station and the safety of its crew," NASA stated in its statement.
According to previous reports, cosmonauts Konstantin Borisov and Alexander Grebenkin were scheduled to travel to the ISS on Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos announced the signing of an agreement on joint cross-flight missions by Russian cosmonauts and US astronauts to the ISS on July 15, 2022.