NASA paid over $3.6 billion to Roscosmos for seats on Russian Soyuz… (корабль · американский · союз)
NASA paid over $3.6 billion to Roscosmos for seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) between 2006 and 2024, following the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. The agreement included additional contracts after 2017 when commercial U.S. spaceflight was delayed, and later a cross-training agreement was signed in July 2022 allowing astronauts to fly on both Russian and American spacecraft.
Consensus
- NASA paid over $3.6 billion to Roscosmos for seats on Soyuz spacecraft between 2006 and 2024
- The payments were made for transporting astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS)
- After the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, NASA relied on Russian Soyuz spacecraft as its only means of reaching the ISS
- NASA signed additional contracts after 2017 for 12 more seats at approximately $1 billion total
- The average cost per seat was about $79.7 million
- A cross-training agreement was signed in July 2022 allowing astronauts to fly on both Russian and American spacecraft
Points of divergence
- NASA reported that the crew of the ISS was instructed to take shelter in their spacecraft due to a renewed air leak in the Russian segment, specifically in the 'Zvezda' service module corridor (PrK), and that NASA's official representative stated they had ordered the crew of SpaceX Crew-12 and astronaut Chris Wilson to assume safe positions in Dragon spacecraft during repairs — vedomosti
- On May 28, Russian cosmonauts Sergei Kudryavtsev and Sergey Malyukov completed a six-hour spacewalk, installing scientific equipment on the 'Zvezda' module and removing equipment from the 'Poisk' module — vedomosti
- On May 29, international partners of the ISS decided to extend station operations until 2030, although Russia had previously announced its segment would be used only until 2028 in favor of creating a new orbital station — vedomosti
Coverage (3 sources)
- NASA paid Roscosmos more than $3.6 billion for seats on Soyuz spacecraft — Коммерсантъ
- NASA Reveals How Much It Paid Roscosmos for ISS Flights — Фонтанка
- NASA spent over $3.6 billion to purchase seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft — Ведомости