Russia To Make More Soyuz Spacecraft To Support NASA's ISS Missions

Although the US does not want to depend too much on Russia in the field of astronomy, Russia still shows its willingness to help. Dmitry Rogozin, who is the chief of Roscosmos, has recently notified his orders for two constructions of the spacecraft Soyuz MS. One will be used to assist NASA for astronaut delivery to the ISS. 

Such a decision was followed from a letter where Jim Bridenstine, NASA director has raised an issue of delay in the commencement of American commercial spacecraft flights, and there may be a lack of two seats in the next two years. Therefore, the spacecraft from Russia will be a good help for the US to catch up with the plan. 

Another Soyuz spacecraft will be utilized for space tourism purposes, which will be due at the end of 2021, despite its capability of freeing resources for space missions. 

However, Russia still took this chance to criticize US planning. Under Russia's perspective, the US should have been thoroughly planning for the seats and asked them in advance, especially in the case that the planned 2020 space flight may not be carried out. At least two years will be needed to finish the spacecraft construction, as stated by Rogozin. 

Indeed, this is not a really serious problem for the US. In early 2020, its SpaceX is expected to launch a Crew Dragon mission. The CST-100 Starliner of Boeing is also about to be launched too. However, as can be seen from the extra construction, the transition towards all US space launches may take more time, and the two nations may need more cooperation.