In the last 20 Years, 239 cosmonauts and astronauts have been taken to the ISS (International Space Station) during 85 crewed flights of US Space Shuttle and Russia’s Soyuz. The U.S. administration has paid Russia almost $4 Billion to take astronauts to and from the ISS through its Soyuz rockets till July 2019, as per a report compiled by Paul Martin, NASA Inspector General. The report said, “As of July 2019, the U.S. space agency purchased 70 Soyuz seats valued $3.9 Billion to transport 70 U.S. and associate astronauts to the ISS.” The report also stipulated that the U.S. will probably be forced to decrease the number of its ISS team, as new space flight arrangements were not ready yet.
The report read on, “In anticipation of the initiation of profitable crew flights, NASA will possibly experience a drop in the number of USOS (US Orbital Segment) squad onboard the ISS from 3 to 1 starting in spring 2020 given slated postponements in the development of SpaceX and Boeing space flight systems linked with a diminution in the frequency of Soyuz flights.” Consequently, the U.S. astronauts will aim for the ISS maintenance rather than experiments and research, NASA recommended. As the Space Shuttle plan was concluded in 2011, the U.S. lost its capability to organize crewed ISS flights on its own.
Recently, the ISS was in news as a startup launched red wine to the space station for aging for 12 Months. A European startup Space Cargo Unlimited is focused on what effects a microgravity environment can have on the red wine for. Accordingly, the firm just launched a unique consignment to the ISS consisting of 12 bottles of wine. It is a part of a trial that will investigate how the aging mechanism for wine is impacted by microgravity, which is a space-based environment.
Eric accomplished a Master’s Program in Electromagnetics, Fusion, and Space Engineering. He is an established entity in this field and serves as Global Industry News’s Lead Content Writer from last 3 years, with a total of 7 years’ experience. While he can craft news on any topic, he loves to write news articles on satellites, rockets, planets, and anything related to the Space domain. His exceptional managerial skills help him to manage the team of 4 writers working under his guidance. He insists on precision in work, which aids in his responsibility of performing the quality check of all news pieces by his teammates.