CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – NASA will soon be able to organize another year-long space mission thanks to an extraordinary Russian film deal.
Astronaut Mark Vande Hei heard last week that he will launch a Russian rocket to the International Space Station on April 9. The former station resident suspected that could happen and trained just in case.
In a press conference Monday from cosmonaut headquarters in Star City, Vande Hei said he might have to give up his return Soyuz chair in the fall to a Russian space tourist interested in filming there. If that happens, he and possibly one of his two Russian crewmembers will have to wait for the next Soyuz ride home – most likely in the spring of 2022.
“Honestly, for me it’s just a chance for a new life experience,” he told reporters. “I’ve never been in space for more than about six months, so if someone tells me to stay in space for a year, I’ll find out what that feels like. I am really excited about it. “
The film is planned by the Russian Channel One and a TV film studio. The provisional title “Vyzov”, challenge in English, aims to showcase Russian space activities and glorify the profession of cosmonauts, according to a press release.
Five years have passed since retired astronaut Scott Kelly completed a 340-day space station mission, a record in the US. Astronaut Christina Koch got close to it a year ago.
NASA is longing for more extra-long missions to study the human body’s adaptation to weightlessness, especially as it looks ahead to Mars expeditions of at least a few years. Space station missions typically last six months.
Vande Hei was added to the next Soyuz crew – who ran into a Russian – to maintain a US presence on the space station in case SpaceX’s next astronaut flight is significantly delayed. SpaceX is aiming no earlier than April 22. Until the private company started offering rides last year, Russia provided the only lift for the space station crews once NASA’s shuttles stopped flying.
According to Vande Hei, operations on the US side of the track lab would be impeded if there were no Americans – only Russians – on board. It’s also a symbolic problem after twenty years of consecutive US astronauts in space, he noted. The astronauts there now depart in April and May.
The good news is that NASA has managed to launch its clothes up there. Otherwise, the retired army colonel would be trapped in much larger outfits meant for someone else.
Vande Hei expects to receive his second COVID-19 vaccine this week. He remains vigilant about wearing masks, even when he and his Russian crew members are training in space suits.
“It’s not very comfortable, but it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Science Education Department of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.