Russia Says Space Station Crew to Increase to Six, More Spacecraft Needed
Posted on: Saturday, 16 October 2004, 06:00 CDT
Text of report by Russian news agency RIA
Mission Control Centre (Korolev), 16 October: The plan is to increase the ISS [International Space Station] crew from two to six at the end of 2007, Aleksey Krasnov, head of manned flight programmes at Roskosmos [Russia's Federal Space Agency], announced on Saturday [16 October].
"The whole logic of the space station's development presupposes that Russia should have its own resource of three crew, as comparable to the resource we had on Russia's Mir space station," he said.
"So we are in every way urging our American partners to move towards increasing its crew to six at the end of 2007," Krasnov said.
[This increase in the ISS crew is dependent on the possibility for three Soyuz spacecraft to dock with the space station at once, Krasnov added, according to another report by RIA news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0845 gmt 16 Oct 04. "We expect to be able to reach that stage in our work towards the end of 2007," Krasnov said. In the meantime, Russia's Soyuz, he said, remains the only means of rescue for the crew of the ISS.]
He went on to say that the scheme, proposed by Rosaviakosmos, whereby Soyuz ships are bought from Russia will help to resolve the problem of rescue ships while US space shuttles remain grounded.
He refused to be drawn on the price expected to be charged for Russian hardware, saying only that it had already been worked out.
[NASA will not develop a rescue craft of its own, Krasnov revealed, as reported by RIA news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0847 gmt 16 Oct 04. "At the moment, the station has to be manned by a crew of just two. When, however, its crew grows to six, as we have agreed, we will need not one but two rescue ships," Krasnov said. He added: "In the course of our talks, we will discuss the basis on which NASA will compensate us for this."]
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