Europeans decided to abandon the Russian Soyuz ships
Representative of the European Space Agency in the Russian Federation Rene Pishel, in an interview with the publication RIA News stated that European astronauts soon intend to abandon the services of the Russian transport system. The functionary believes that the Italian Luca Parmitano will be the last astronaut from the European Union to go to the ISS (the expedition is scheduled for September 2019) on the Soyuz MS manned spacecraft.
Talk about ESA’s likely abandonment of the Russian transport system has been ongoing since last year. In June 2018, a representative of the agency said that by 2023, Europe could abandon the operation of Soyuz MS in favor of its own Ariane 6 device.
In addition, the development of spacecraft designed to deliver astronauts to the ISS is underway in the United States. Potential competitors to the domestic transportation system could be Starliner from the Boeing aircraft concern and Crew Dragon from SpaceX Corporation. 2,6 and 2,4 billion dollars were allocated for the implementation of projects, respectively.
It is worth noting that the "Dragon" has twice completed successful flights to the International Space Station in unmanned mode. At the same time, the sending of astronauts was postponed to the end of the year, due to malfunctions during the test of emergency engines.
Recall that the delivery of people to the ISS since July 2011 was carried out exclusively by Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Talk about ESA’s likely abandonment of the Russian transport system has been ongoing since last year. In June 2018, a representative of the agency said that by 2023, Europe could abandon the operation of Soyuz MS in favor of its own Ariane 6 device.
In addition, the development of spacecraft designed to deliver astronauts to the ISS is underway in the United States. Potential competitors to the domestic transportation system could be Starliner from the Boeing aircraft concern and Crew Dragon from SpaceX Corporation. 2,6 and 2,4 billion dollars were allocated for the implementation of projects, respectively.
It is worth noting that the "Dragon" has twice completed successful flights to the International Space Station in unmanned mode. At the same time, the sending of astronauts was postponed to the end of the year, due to malfunctions during the test of emergency engines.
Recall that the delivery of people to the ISS since July 2011 was carried out exclusively by Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Information