WASHINGTON. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Russia will have to re-form its program of operating the International space Station (ISS) in the case of another delay in the launch of the United States' commercial ships, Roscosmos' executive director for manned missions Sergei Krikalyov told journalists.
"If we have to change the program it will be painful, but we will optimize it based on common considerations," Krikalyov said during an international aeronautical congress.
Russia is ready to discuss the allocation of additional Soyuz places for U.S. astronauts because a delay would threaten the station itself; the two countries have repeatedly come to each other's aid in space, he said.
"When there were spare places available which could be sold, we sold them. Currently, there are essentially no space places, but if there is some urgent situation, of course, we will think about how to re-form our program, optimize [it] based on common considerations," Krikalyov said.
The U.S. has not asked Russia so far because it is hoping for a successful start of flights in 2020, he said.
"And we hope so too, because for us selling places is not a goal in itself. Our goal is to implement the program, we are working with partners and will be helping one another in the event of a bad scenario, but we hope nothing bad will happen."
On Monday, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine announced another Crew Dragon test flight due for the end of the year, Krikalyov said.
Since the U.S. ended its Space Shuttle program in 2011, Russia has held the monopoly for sending crews to the ISS. Over the past few years, SpaceX and Boeing have been trying to build their own manned spaceships but their launches were repeatedly postponed. The new deadline set by the U.S. is the middle of 2020. NASA only has a place for an astronaut on the Soyuz that will fly to the ISS next spring. Roscosmos is planning only two manned missions in 2020, in the spring and in the fall, with the latter due to become the first ever all-Russian crew flight to the ISS. Russia is increasing its crew numbers to prepare its segment of the ISS in time for the arrival of a multifunctional laboratory module in late 2020.
The current ISS crew consists of Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka, U.S. astronauts Andrew Morgan, Christina Koch, and Jessica Meir, and Luca Parmitano, an Italian.
Skvortsov and Parmitano will return to earth after 201 days (on February 6, 2020), together with Koch. Morgan, who was with them during liftoff on July 20, will return home with Skripochka and Meir on April 1, 2020. A NASA astronaut, who is due to fly to the ISS next spring and return the same year, will be the last astronaut to fly to the ISS under a Roscosmos-NASA commercial agreement. Unless Crew Dragon and Starliner flights have resumed by then, there will be no U.S. astronauts left on board the ISS.