MOSCOW. Feb 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The rollout of the United States' manned spacecraft Starliner (Boeing) and Crew Dragon (Space X) may lead to a decline in the price of commercial orbital flights, according to the Energia Corporation.
"After the initial period of the demonstration of the reliability of the new U.S. vehicles, the market prices of flights will most likely start declining due to growing competition, which could lead to the expansion of the market for manned flights," the corporation's report for Q4 2018 reads.
After the end of the U.S. space shuttle program, Russia assumed a monopoly position in the manned-flight market. Energia expects a stable state contract for the manned Soyuz MS spacecraft and Progress MS resupply vehicles. However, since 2017, the number of annual launches of Russia's Progress vehicles has fallen from four to three, and since 2012, NASA has been able to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and back on Dragon space trucks. Cygnus vehicles have been transporting space cargo since 2013. This led to a minimum number of NASA orders for the delivery of cargo to the ISS using Progress spacecraft, which are conducted on a barter basis under agreements between NASA and Roscosmos.
"NASA plans to launch the use of Starliner and Crew Dragon manned commercial spacecraft at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020. The flight tests of the vehicles are planned for H1 2019 in unmanned mode and for H2 2019 in manned mode," Energia's report reads.