News Russia to produce 5th Soyuz each year

[Orbinaut Pete]

RIA Novosti: "Roscosmos to send 2 space tourists to ISS after 2013".

The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos plans to send Soyuz spacecraft with two space tourists to the International Space station (ISS) after 2013, the head of Roscosmos' manned flights department, Alexei Krasnov, said.

"Such a proposal is under consideration of Roscosmos' and the American Space Advantures [company]," Krasnov said adding that a flight is due not earlier than 2013. "There are also detailed offers, which we will study in Washington at a meeting of space agencies' heads," he continued.

Two tourists will be joined by a Russian professional space crew commander.

Russia stopped sending tourists to space last year because the International Space Station (ISS) crew has increased from three to six, and all the places on board the spacecraft have been reserved for Russian and foreign astronauts.

Russia's RSC Energia corporation recently said it had the capacity to build five Soyuz spacecraft per year instead of four, meaning that at least one Soyuz spacecraft could be used for space tourism purposes in the future.

Space tourists started flying to the ISS in 2001.

 

[Wishbone]

I only hope that quality doesn't go out of the window with production ramped up.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Roscosmos PAO: "Roscosmos: Production of One More Soyuz is a Commercial Project".

Annual fifth flight of the Soyuz crew vehicle to the International Space Station will give ISS partners the opportunity to increase the number of human space missions to the station, but they have to pay for it, Head of Roscosmos Human Spaceflight Directorate Alexey Krasnov told news media at Baikonur.
He explained that European, Canadian and Japanese partners will be eager to have an additional Soyuz as they can use it to send more astronauts of their agencies to the station. On this way, Roscosmos of course would ask them to pay for the production.
Krasnov noted that launching of an additional Soyuz to the ISS is feasible in late 2013-early 2014. Currently, this production is not covered by the budget. This approach is being under consideration as a commercial project. According to Kransov, 4 Soyuzes per year is fairy enough to support the station program, RIA Novosti reports.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Roscosmos PAO: "Russia is not Planning to Sell Soyuz Seats to Europe".

Russia is not planning to sell Soyuz seats to Europe to transport their astronauts to the International Space Station, Interfax informs quoting Roscosmos Human Spaceflight Directorate Alexey Krasnov.
“We are not in position to replace our flight capabilities by European astronauts”, Krasnov said.
According to him, Europe seeks for additional seats for their astronauts, and the issues is being discussed. However sending the fifth annual Soyuz to the ISS for a long-term mission requires special studies, as the ISS can accommodate six crew.
“Extending ISS technical capabilities to nine crew requires additional studies”, Krasnov said.

 

[Voyager]

Everyoe buy lottery tickets. Someone win the lottery! Then buy us an official Soyuz. A russian can pilot two orbinauts.

 

[Solar424]

Everyoe buy lottery tickets. Someone win the lottery! Then buy us an official Soyuz. A russian can pilot two orbinauts.

The Orbiter Forum Space Ship (OFSS) Martin Schweiger

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Everyoe buy lottery tickets. Someone win the lottery! Then buy us an official Soyuz. A russian can pilot two orbinauts.

I think we should have Siberian Tiger as the Soyuz pilot. He could read all those Cyrillic switches! :thumbup:

 

[SiberianTiger]

I think we should have Siberian Tiger as the Soyuz pilot. He could read all those Cyrillic switches! :thumbup:

Okay, and when I'm stuck with some odd acronym, I call two my friends who actually took up Soyuz flying trainings. :lol:

 

[Voyager]

Um, I meant you guys. I know Latin, Russian, English (Note: I grew up in America with Russian cousins, so I learnt Russian.)

 

[T.Neo]

“Extending ISS technical capabilities to nine crew requires additional studies”, Krasnov said.

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around ISS with a crew of nine... there have been a comparable number of personnel aboard, but only for short durations.

Where would they sleep? Where would their food be shipped aboard and stored? How would their waste be dealt with? Could the ECLSS support them?

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Space Adventures Concludes Agreement to Offer Commercial Spaceflight Opportunities to the International Space Station.

Three seats available beginning in 2013

Space Adventures, the only company that has provided human space mission opportunities to the world marketplace, announced today the conclusion of an agreement with the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation (FSA) and Rocket Space Corporation Energia (RSC Energia) to commercially offer three seats on the Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS), beginning in 2013.

These seats will be made available through the increase of Soyuz production, from four to five spacecraft per year. Each flight will be short duration, approximately 10 days, and will contribute to the increase of launch capacity to the ISS.

"We are extremely excited to announce this agreement and would like to thank our Russian partners in increasing Soyuz production and providing Space Adventures these well sought-after transportation services on the only commercially available manned spacecraft currently in operation," said Eric Anderson, Chairman of Space Adventures. "Since Guy Laliberte's mission, there has been an increase of interest by private individuals, organizations and commercial entities seeking ways to access the space station. We have been speaking with these parties about science, education and multi-media programs and hope to make some major announcements in the coming year."

Space Adventures became world-renowned 10 years ago with the launch of Dennis Tito, the world's first privately-funded space explorer. Since then, the company has arranged seven additional missions to the ISS. Cumulatively, our clients have spent almost three months in space, traveling over 36 million miles, and have been true ambassadors in sharing their experience and explaining to millions of people around the world why it's important to explore space," continued Mr. Anderson.

"We are very pleased to continue space tourism with Space Adventures. Also, the addition of a fifth Soyuz spacecraft to the current manifest will add flexibility and redundancy to our ISS transportation capabilities. We welcome the opportunity to increase our efforts to meet the public demand for access to space," said Alexei Krasnov, Director of Human Spaceflight of FSA.

In support of the continued partnership between FSA, Energia and Space Adventures, Vitaly Lopota, President of RSC Energia, commented, "We were first in the space tourism marketplace and we are glad to expand our capabilities by adding a fifth Soyuz and to use these three additional opportunities for commercial flight participants, starting in 2013."

Space Adventures, the company that organized the flights for the world's first private space explorers, is headquartered in Vienna, Va. with an office in Moscow. It offers a variety of programs such as the availability today for spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecraft. The company's advisory board includes Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Shuttle astronauts Sam Durrance, Tom Jones, Byron Lichtenberg, Norm Thagard, Kathy Thornton, Pierre Thuot, Charles Walker, and Skylab/Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott.

 

[N_Molson]

Hehehe... With the Soyuz bought by private compagnies, the Dragon, the Orion, the ACTS, and other capsules that should be ready for the next ten years, we should build other space stations to get the market running... :lol:

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Spaceflight Now: "Resumption of Soyuz tourist flights announced".

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Roscosmos PAO: "There is no Contract between Russian Federal Space Agency and Space Adventures to Fly Tourists to the ISS".

Space Adventures, which had announced the conclusion of an agreement with Russian Federal Space Agency and Rocket Space Corporation Energia (RSC Energia) to commercially offer three seats on the Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS), beginning in 2013, has not signed any contract neither with Roscosmos, nor with RSC-E, Roscosmos Human Spaceflight Directorate Head Alexey Krasnov told Marker.
According to Krasnov, the a.m. negotiations may commence in spring, provided that Space Adventures finds funding for increasing of Soyuz production, from four to five space vehicles per year.
“This release is a kind of indicator of Space Adventure’s intentions and find necessary funding in the market to finance construction of an additional Soyuz. The number of Soyuzes per year may be increased starting from 2014, provided that the company finds the money”, Krasnov stated, adding that Space Adventures shall finance the additional Soyuz in order to restart touristic space missions.
«Only after that, we will commence discussions with our international partners in the ISS program… There are many issues here, but they have not been studied so far, as we don’t have any subjet agreement with Space Adventures”, Roscosmos official explains.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Already delayed a year.

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Roscosmos PAO: "Space Tourist Missions May Face a Year Delay - Roscosmos".

Program of space tourist flights may face a year delay, Roscosmos Human Spaceflight Directorate Head Alexey Krasnov stated.
According to him, an additional Soyuz vehicle to be built by RSC-Energia for space tourists might be produced in 2014 instead of 2013. The delay is dependent on Roscosmos partner Space Adventures which is to collect required number of is not able to provide necessary number of solvent candidates in August 2011.
"We are pressed for time. This year our partners have to confirm feasibility of the commercial Soyuz mission project", Krasnov said.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

According to this ITAR-TASS article, this project is now cancelled.