NASA and Roscosmos are "pretty close" to signing an agreement on cross-flights to the ISS. This was announced by NASA Deputy Program Manager for the International Space Station Dana Weigl.

“We hope that we are close to completing the signing of the agreement, it is in the last stages of consideration by NASA and Roscosmos,” Dana Weigl said at a briefing on the launch of the Cargo Dragon cargo spacecraft to the ISS. She added that Anna Kikina continues to prepare for the flight with the Crew 5 team, the preparations are going according to plan, and Francisco Rubio is training with the Soyuz crew. Frank Rubio will go to the ISS this fall.

Weigl indicated that the deadline for signing the document is the end of next week. If an agreement cannot be reached by then, NASA will have to change its training schedule, but Weigl said the agency is looking forward to reaching an agreement. On July 6, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, also stated that the agreement would be signed in the near future.

In June, the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center, Maxim Kharlamov, reported that the final version of the agreement was currently being coordinated in the United States, the Russian side expects to receive an agreed version in the near future.

The launch of Cargo Dragon on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will take place on July 15. There are almost 2.5 tons of supplies for the ISS crew and scientific materials on board the spacecraft. The craft is already on the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It will stay in orbit for a day and a half, after which it will dock with the ISS.

bbabo.Net