Russia To Send More Cargo To ISS From 2020 To Accommodate Larger Crew - Manufacturer

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2018) The amount of cargo launched by Russia to the International Space Station (ISS) is expected to increase in 2020 because a third member of the Russian ISS crew is expected to return to the station around that time, the Russian Rocket and Space Corporation Energia said on Wednesday in a quarterly report.

Currently, four manned Soyuz spacecraft and four cargo Progress spacecraft are sent to the ISS every year. In 2017, Russia had to cut its ISS crew from three members to two given the lack of space and low usage of equipment in the country's segment of the station. However, the upcoming addition of three modules will pave the way for a third crew member returning.

"The [cargo] order for the Progress MS spacecraft is expect to increase starting from 2020 because the Russian crew will grow from two people to three following the integration of three new modules in the Russian segment of the ISS," RSC Energia, which produces Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, said.

Construction on the Russian segment of the ISS is expected to be completed in 2021 after the launch of the Multipurpose Laboratory Module Nauka in 2019, followed by the hub module Prichal in 2020 and the Science Power Platform in 2021. In July, a source at the Baikonur cosmodrome told Sputnik that the launch of the Nauka module could be postponed until 2020, which might also result in postponed launches for the other two modules.