Keith’s note: I am waiting to see if NASA or Roscosmos ever explain how much fuel is still in the lines of MLM/Nauka/FGB-2 – when they purge it given that the firings were unscheduled, the prop system had to be inhibited, and the fuel tanks are supposedly empty. Based on internal memos we’ve read (and I cannot post), NASA personnel in Houston and Moscow were worried about Nauka and its […]

Rogozin told on what conditions the United States handed over Sea Launch to Russia, RIA Novosti (auto translation) “The United States agreed to transfer Russian space rocket complex “Sea Launch” under the condition that it will not compete with the US company SpaceX Elon Musk , said General Director of ” Roscosmos ” Dmitry Rogozin. “Specific strict restrictions were introduced when signing this contract for the transfer of two Sea […]

NASA Administrator Statement on Meeting with Roscosmos “NASA Administrator Bill Nelson released the following statement after an introductory call Friday with Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin: “I was pleased to speak with General Director Dimitry Rogozin this morning in a productive discussion about continued cooperation between NASA and Roscosmos.” Dmitry Rogozin held phone call with NASA head Bill Nelson, Roscosmos “Therewith, the head of Roscosmos stated several questions that had […]

Russian Film Plans Mean NASA Astronaut Could Spend an Entire Year in Space, Gizmodo “Russian director Klim Shipenko and an actress to be named later might join the Soyuz MS-19 mission, which is scheduled for launch in October, as AP reports. .. Once filming activities are done, Shipenko and his partner, along with Novitskiy, would return home on MS-18, likely within a week. The two seats were meant for Vande […]

NASA Signs Contract to Fly a NASA Astronaut on April Soyuz Rotation to the International Space Station “To ensure continuous U.S. presence aboard the International Space Station, NASA has signed a contract with a U.S. commercial company Axiom Space of Houston to fly a NASA astronaut on an upcoming Soyuz rotation on Soyuz MS-18, scheduled to launch April 9. In exchange, NASA will provide a seat on a future U.S. […]

Commerce Department Will Publish the First Military End User List Naming More Than 100 Chinese and Russian Companies “The MEU List informs exporters, reexporters, and transferors that a license will be required to export, reexport, or transfer (in-country) designated items to listed entities. The U.S. Government has determined that these entities represent an unacceptable risk of use in or diversion to a ‘military end use’ or ‘military end user’ in […]

Russian space agency calls Trump’s reaction to SpaceX launch “hysteria”, Reuters “The U.S. success will potentially deprive Roscosmos, which has suffered corruption scandals and a number of malfunctions, of the lucrative fees it charged to take U.S. astronauts to the ISS. “The hysteria raised after the successful launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft is hard to understand,” Vladimir Ustimenko, spokesman for Roscosmos, wrote on Twitter after citing Trump’s statement. “What […]

Delivery of Nauka module to Baikonur postponed over fuel tank adjustments, TASS “The construction of the Nauka module began in 1995. Russia initially planned to launch the Nauka lab to the ISS as a back-up of the Zarya compartment (the station’s first module that continues its flight as part of the orbital outpost) but the launch was numerously delayed. In 2013, the Nauka module was sent to the Khrunichev Space […]

Russian, Japanese companies plan to jointly design moon robot, TASS “Russia’s Android Technology Company and Japan’s GITAI startup plan to create a robot to operate on the lunar surface, the Russian company’s executive director, Yevgeny Dudorov, told TASS. “We will sign a cooperation agreement. Later, we will outline joint plans for 2020, 2021 and other years,” Dudorov said, adding that the deal would be signed soon. Once the joint project […]

Russia’s passive-aggressive reaction to SpaceX may mask a deeper truth, Ars Technica “I would like to point out something else interesting–from one point of view this is a good thing, because we were carrying astronauts, we were getting basically for free $400 million a year at about $90 million per seat for each foreign astronaut. That is more than the entire cost of the rocket and the ship and launch […]