OREANDA-NEWS. March 16, 2011. Russia’s Federal Space Agency Roscosmos and NASA signed an agreement which provides for the delivery of American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft until 2016.

This agreement, an addendum to an already existing contract between Roscosmos and NASA, envisages ferrying 12 US spacemen to the ISS throughout 2014-2015. For each of the 12 astronauts, Russia also undertakes to deliver 50 kg of cargo to the ISS and take another 17 kg back, as well as remove some 30 kg of waste from the Space Station. Furthermore, the Russians will provide pre-flight training and search for and, if need be, rescue astronauts upon their return to Earth. Recall that NASA is wrapping up its own space shuttle program this year, with the oldest member of the fleet, the Discovery, completing its flight program on March 9. The Endeavour and the Atlantis will make their final voyages on April 19 and June 28 respectively.

The Russian space program recently experienced a series of misfortunes, which made some observers suppose that Russia is losing ground in this field. However, the new NASA contract shows that the US recognises Russia as one of the leading space nations and this acknowledgement is perhaps worth even more than the money that Roscosmos will get from NASA.

Everyone gets unlucky from time to time. Just on March 14, a worker fell to his death in the course of preparations for the flight of the Endeavour at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. All work on the flight was suspended following the tragedy.

Sure, the Russian space industry went through a tough period that started in the late 1980s and extended all through the 90s. However, recent developments and successful international space cooperation, including with the US, indicate that Russia is slowly regaining its status as one of the leaders in the field. Suffice it to mention that alongside the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and the Progress cargo ship, the European Johannes Kepler ATV-2 and the Japanese Konotori HTV-2 ships are currently docked onto the ISS. What’s more, the stated plans of Roscosmos show that Russia intends to resume work on space pursuits that have been seemingly forgotten in the near future.

At the beginning of March, the head of the Lavochkin aerospace company, Viktor Khartov, announced that Roscosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences are working on a large-scale program to get an unmanned probe onto the Moon. This program will be geared towards “extending the understanding of the polar regions of the Moon and preparing a manned mission, if there are reasons and tasks that warrant human presence there”. Already in 2013-2014, there are plans to send two robotic expeditions to the Moon – the Russo-Indian Luna-Resource mission, which will be launched using a Russian rocket and the Russian Luna-Glob explorer. Both rovers are set to land in polar regions, where frozen water has been spotted.

Recently, Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov told the Voice of Russia that the 2020s may see a Moon flight program in full swing, with a research base being established by the 2030s. The 2040s are earmarked for the exploration of Mars. The scale of the plans is stunning, but the achievements made by the Russian space industry so far give reason to hope that these plans will be brought to life. Afterall, man’s first space flight, the 50 year anniversary of which the world will celebrate on April 12, also seemed unfathomable at one point.