14 DAY TRIAL // According to a news story released by the Interfax-AVN news agency, it would appear that NASA and the Russian federal Space Agency (RosCosmos) will sign yet another contract to extend their collaboration in putting American astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS).
With no manned spacecraft of its own, and with its commercial partners still a few years away from providing manned commercial spaceflights to low-Earth orbit, NASA is jammed into a corner, and simply has to agree to deploy its astronauts in space aboard Russian-built space capsules.
The announcement was made by Vitaly Lopota, who is the president and general designer at S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, the main developer and contractor for the Soyuz spacecraft. An agreement between the two space agencies may be signed by the end of this summer.
NASA is still waiting on its private partners, including SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Blue Origins to finish developing their manned Dragon, Cygnus, CST-100, Dream Chaser and New Shepherd spacecraft, respectively, which should take at least another 3-4 years, Space News reports.