MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/: The safety of Russian cosmonaut Nikolay Chub during his mission on the International Space Station (ISS), scheduled for 2023, has been called into question after the United States refused him an entry visa, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos told reporters on Saturday.
"This situation calls into question the very safety of the Russian cosmonaut’s mission on the ISS and the safety of the Station’s US segment due to the unpreparedness of the Russian cosmonaut in case of an emergency," Roscosmos said.
The Russian state corporation clarified that nobody will ever launch an untrained crew into space.
"Accordingly, there is at least a question of changing Nikolay Chub’s training schedule for the upcoming flight in the spring of 2023," Roscosmos added stressing that even if the visa issue is resolved promptly, the training program will have to be revised.
Roscosmos explained that Chub needs the US entry visa for his first five-day training session on the replica of the US orbital segment.
"A space flight is impossible, in principle, without lectures and practical exercises on a mockup of the US segment, without learning about the operation of its systems or understanding the interaction between the systems of the Russian and US segments, as well as without doing a course on how to act in emergencies," the Russian space agency said.
Earlier, a source familiar with the situation told TASS that without any explanations, the United States had denied a visa to Nikolay Chub, who was supposed to arrive in the US to undergo training at the NASA Johnson Space Center. The Roscosmos CEO later confirmed this information specifying that he had asked NASA to clarify their position on the matter.
Training
Training of foreign astronauts at Russia’s Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center and of Russian cosmonauts at the Johnson Space Center is a routine practice, giving space crews knowledge of the US and Russian orbital segments of the International Space Station. Such training sessions are held regardless of what kind of spacecraft will be used to deliver cosmonauts and astronauts to the orbit.
Nikolay Chub is a member of the backup crew of ISS Expedition 68, which is to fly to the orbital outpost aboard the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft in September 2022. He is also a member of Expedition 69’s main crew, to be delivered to the ISS by a Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft in the spring of 2023.
