Soyuz

Soyuz MS-17 is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on 2020-10-14 transporting NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov.

The first two of the 12 Batch 3 Galileo first-generation satellites are expected to launch on an Arianespace Soyuz in 2021.

GK Launch Services is offering capacity for smallsat secondary payloads on a Soyuz-2 launch of the Luna-Glob lander scheduled for October 2021 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

The seven other Soyuz-2 launches where GK Launch Services is offering secondary payload space are all to sun-synchronous orbits launching from either Vostochny or the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The Luna-Glob launch is one of eight Soyuz-2 missions, commercial and Russian government, where GK Launch Services is offering space for secondary payloads through early 2024.

The planned Demo-2 splashdown would be the first NASA crewed spacecraft splashdown since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project splashdown in July 1975.

The new contract is similar to an agreement announced in February 2019 for a 2021 Soyuz flight to the station that also featured two spaceflight participants and one professional cosmonaut on board.

Space Adventures signed a contract with RSC Energia for a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station that will include an opportunity for one customer to perform a spacewalk.

Space Adventures arranged flights of seven private individuals on eight Soyuz trips to the International Space Station between 2001 and 2009, with Charles Simonyi flying twice.

The contract announced 2020-06-25 describes a short-duration Soyuz mission lasting 14 days to the International Space Station with two spaceflight participants and one professional cosmonaut on board.

Space Adventures has a separate contract announced last year for a late 2021 Soyuz mission that does not include a spacewalk opportunity.

Detachment 3 also supports NASA astronauts when they fly on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

NASA finalized a deal with Roscosmos earlier in the month for a Soyuz seat on a mission launching in October that will cost NASA more than $90,200,000.

Other launches from the Guiana Space Centre were delayed to late 2020, including Soyuz missions carrying the United Arab Emirates’ FalconEye-2 reconnaissance satellite.

Chris Cassidy arrived at the International Space Station in April on the last Soyuz seat NASA had available as part of a two-seat deal announced in early 2019.

Delays in the commercial crew program by Boeing and SpaceX have required NASA to purchase additional Soyuz seats at generally increasing prices.

NASA will pay more than $90,000,000 for an additional seat on a Soyuz spacecraft launching to the International Space Station in mid-October.

NASA planned to evaluate Demo-2 and Crew-1 mission outcomes before determining whether to negotiate for an additional Soyuz seat for a spring 2021 launch.