Resolving Conflicts by Sharing Spaceships... US and Russia to Share ISS Seats

Agreement Reached to Ensure ISS Safe Operation
NASA: "No Country's Space Agency Has Independent Functional Capability"
Change of Russian Federal Space Agency Head Previously Unfriendly to the West...Attention on Whether Space Sector Conflicts Will Ease

International Space Station (ISS). Photo by NASA, Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Se-eun] The United States and Russia, which have been engaged in a new Cold War based on the Ukraine war, have expressed their willingness to cooperate in the space sector.

According to foreign media on the 15th (local time), the two countries reached an agreement to share seats on manned capsules traveling to and from the International Space Station (ISS), allowing each other's astronauts to ride on their spacecraft.

This means that American astronauts will be able to board Russian spacecraft, and Russian astronauts will be able to board American spacecraft.

Accordingly, two NASA astronauts will ride together with Russian astronauts on a Soyuz launch vehicle launching from the 'Cosmodrome' in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on September 21.

Moreover, Russian astronauts will head to the ISS aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon, launching around the same time from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.

Since the end of the US Space Shuttle program, American astronauts have frequently used the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. However, this will be the first case of Russian astronauts boarding American spacecraft.

The two countries plan to conduct another seat exchange in the first half of next year. It is reported that astronauts designated to board each other's spacecraft have already been selected.

This agreement has been promoted to ensure the safe operation of the ISS. It aims to secure means of access to the ISS even if one of the Soyuz (Russia) or Crew Dragon (USA) spacecraft encounters problems and becomes unusable.

NASA stated in a press release, "The space station is designed to be interdependent and functions based on the contributions of each country's space agency," adding, "No country's space agency has the capability to operate independently."

Russia's Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) explained, "In case of emergencies where Russian or American spacecraft launches are canceled or significantly delayed, the goal is to have at least one astronaut remain aboard to operate the Russian and American sectors of the ISS."

Meanwhile, alongside the agreement on spacecraft seat sharing, the replacement of Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos who had taken a tough stance against the US and the West, increases the possibility of a shift in the conflict phase between the two countries in the space sector. On the same day, Yuri Borisov, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, was appointed as the head of Roscosmos in a cabinet reshuffle.

Previously, Rogozin had continuously fueled tensions in the space sector. He mentioned that Russia provides the propulsion necessary to maintain the ISS's orbit and that it could cause the station to crash.

Furthermore, he warned that if Western sanctions against Russia triggered by the Ukraine crisis did not stop, cooperation related to ISS operations would be suspended. Additionally, Russia had halted satellite launches of OneWeb, a telecommunications company in which the UK government was a major shareholder, and stopped supplying space rocket engines to the US.