Russia will launch four Progress cargo ships and two Soyuz-TMA crew capsules to the ISS next year, Koptev said. "Our American colleagues told us today that they would schedule the first flight of a space shuttle for late September or early October," Koptev told reporters, adding that the flight would not include a docking with the ISS.
The U.S. shuttle program has been grounded since the Columbia disaster in February, which killed all seven astronauts on board. Since then, the ISS has been dependent on Russian spacecraft for crew rotations and cargo deliveries.
The first of the Progress ships will take off in late January, and a three-seat Soyuz-TMA will be launched in April to deliver the next permanent crew, which will consist of one Russian and one American. European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands will travel with the new ISS crew, and return to Earth along with current crew members, Russian Alexander Kareli and Michael Foale of the United States, Kotpev said.
It is yet to be decided whether the third seat in the second Soyuz-TMA craft next fall will also be taken by ESA or a paying space tourist, Koptev said.
The Russian space agency and its lead ISS contractor, Energia Rocket Space Corp., have warned that a lack of funds may disrupt missions. In October, the government allocated an extra 1.5 billion rubles ($50.2 million) to build additional Progress and Soyuz-TMA craft. More than 5 billion rubles of the 13.1 billion ruble 2004 federal civil space budget will be spent on the ISS, allowing Russia to keep the station running.
From 2006, Russia will no longer be obliged to give free places on Soyuz craft to NASA. If the shuttle program is still grounded then, "the most reasonable option" for NASA would be to buy the Soyuz craft, a senior official at Energia said in a recent phone interview.
Russian and U.S. space officials were unavailable for comment Sunday.
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