Roscosmos To Be Offered 3 Options For Further Flights To ISS In Coming Months - Source

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2018) Russia's rocket and space corporation Energia and the Mission Control Center have prepared three options for further launches of spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) in the coming months for Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos, a source in the Russian space industry told Sputnik on Sunday.

Earlier in October, a source in the industry told Sputnik that the Russian state commission, established after the failed liftoff of the Soyuz-FG booster on October 11, had set up a subcommission to consider the options for further exploitation of the ISS, including the possibility of its temporary shutdown.

"All options have been calculated based on the ballistic capabilities of the launch of cargo and manned spacecraft and on the technological readiness of space technology and ground infrastructure," the source said.

According to the source, the options differ only in the dates when the spacecraft are planned to be launched to the ISS.

The options will be presented to Roscosmos in the near future, the source added.

At the same time, the source said that the temporary shutdown of the station was not among the options for further exploitation of the station and that the launch of manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-11 to the ISS in early December is the core of all three scenarios.

"The preparations for the launch of this spacecraft are currently under way at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Energia's staff are working almost in three shifts," the source added.

The Soyuz-FG carrier rocket failed to launch the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft to the ISS from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Just minutes after the liftoff, the mission was aborted due to the booster's malfunction and the two-man crew escaped in a rescue capsule and returned on Earth unharmed. Immediately afterward, the Russian side, which had built the booster, launched an investigation into the accident.