The first regular mission should be sent in early 2025
According to Roscosmos executive director for manned programs Sergei Krikalev, the Russian cosmonaut will not join the crew of the Starliner spacecraft during the first manned launch to the International Space Station (ISS). As we already wrote, the mission was postponed several times, and in October of this year it became known that the first certification flight of the Starliner spacecraft with a crew is scheduled for early April 2024. After this, regular missions will be organized.
Krikalev noted that the safety of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner manned spacecraft is still being studied – this is a new ship, and Russian cosmonauts will be able to fly on it only when they are confident in its safety. “Our people will sit down when safety is confirmed,” Krikalev said. It is now known that the first regular flight of Starliner should take place in early 2025, it will be carried out using the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 launch vehicle. The crew will include NASA astronauts Scott Tingle and Michael Fink, as well as Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk. The name of the fourth participant will be announced later.