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After a break of nearly nine years, astronauts will first start on May 27 from the United States to the most expensive infrastructure in the country. In recent years, only Russian Soyuz spacecraft have transported astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), funded primarily by the United States.
(dpa)
It is one of the ironic twists in world history: For years, Americans have not had access to their probably most expensive building without the Russians. Only the Russian Soyuz spacecraft was still carrying astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), which is primarily funded by the United States. That should be the end: After a break of nearly nine years, astronauts will start for the first time since the US. USA To the ISS on May 27.
Only Chris Cassidy (L) of NASA and Anatoly Ivanishin (C) and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are currently on the International Space Station (ISS). The image shows them during the final qualification for the Space Mission in Star City, near Moscow, on May 5.
The last time astronauts flew from the Cape Canaveral spaceport launch pad 39A to the space station was in the summer of 2011 with the space shuttle “Atlantis”. The US space agency Nasa has reduced its fleet of space shuttles for cost reasons and has since depended on Russia for flights to the ISS. With up to 84 million francs per flight in a Russian Soyuz capsule, this was not only costly, but it also scratched the ego a lot.
“The most important nation in the world should not depend on any other country for space travel,” said then-NASA chief Charles Bolden in 2014, and announced his own flights for 2017. After technical problems, funding difficulties and The restructuring after the election of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, the project was postponed.
In addition to SpaceX, Boeing was also commissioned to develop transporters for astronauts. However, the “Starliner” developed by Boeing failed to reach the ISS on a first attempt in December. The unmanned test must now be repeated. Until then, all hope rests on the “Crew Dragon” of the private space company SpaceX, as NASA chief Bridenstine makes clear. “This mission is a high priority for the United States.”
It begins according to the current calendar on May 27 at 10:32 p.m. (CEST), again on launch pad 39A. But otherwise, a lot is different this time. Astronauts do not start on board a NASA spacecraft, but on their behalf with a rocket “Falcon 9” and the “Dragon of the crew”, and this in the midst of the crown pandemic, in which companies They can only work to a limited degree and spectators are not allowed. will be.
NASA astronauts Robert Behnken (49) and Douglas Hurley (53), both veterans of the space shuttle program, are said to be on the “Dragon of the Crew.” “It is probably the dream of every student in a test pilot school to fly an entirely new spacecraft,” Behnken said recently at a press conference. “And I am very lucky to have that opportunity.” The two US astronauts are expected to USA Stay on board the ISS for about a month, significantly longer than planned, because the space station currently has only three space travelers: the two Russians Anatoli Iwanischin and Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut Christoper Cassidy.
Everything is a test, the “last flight test” of the “Dragon of the crew”, emphasizes NASA. “We shouldn’t lose sight of that,” says NASA chief Jim Bridenstine. «We do this to learn things. And we take it very, very seriously when it comes to security. ”
Russia will also watch the beginning with enthusiasm, but the cosmonauts are not on board. In recent years, crews mixed with Soyuzs have been flying into space, but before that, Americans and Russians had been flying their spaceships. In any case, the head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, Dmitri Rogosin, and the head of SpaceX, Elon Musk, like to poison themselves in public.
NASA announced last year that US private shuttles. USA They will also be used to attract tourists and other stakeholders to the ISS in the future. “NASA opens the International Space Station to business opportunities and markets them like we have never done before,” said CFO Jeff DeWit. The United States bears the lion’s share of the EEI’s running costs of several billion euros annually. The total cost of construction and operation of the station is estimated at more than 100 billion euros.
For Roskosmos, too, it’s not about the money the authority has earned from the astronaut shuttle in recent years and has been able to invest in other projects, such as moon exploration. The company now plans to work more closely with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, for example. Space travelers from these countries could launch into space with Russian missiles.
Rogozin wants to make launching his rockets cheaper and, therefore, more competitive. Costs should decrease by more than 30 percent, it announced a few weeks ago. This is a reaction “to price dumping by US companies that are financed from the United States budget.”
At Easter, Musk replied on Twitter: Unlike the Russian, his rockets were 80 percent recyclable. Rogozin replied: Russia is already developing missiles that could be used more than once. However, these would be more efficient than Americans. However, a start is still a long way off.
So far, space and space cooperation between Moscow and Washington have worked well, apart from many other conflicts. Kremlin chief Putin also praised this when he made a video link to the ISS in April, but then also mentioned that Russia wanted to advance its “strategic plans” in space. “Our country has always been a pioneer in exploring the universe.”
