NASA Purchases More Russian Flights, Maybe For The Last Time

Spaceflight Now (5/27, Clark, 3K) reports that NASA has bought ?six more round-trip seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft that will cover launches through the end of 2017 and landing into 2018 for the price of $76.3 million per round-trip ticket. Because of NASA’s commercial crew developments, this may be the last time such a deal is needed. The article notes that NASA said the new deal was needed to avoid any gas in service that might come about if commercial crew launches are not ready. Mike Suffredini, NASA’s space station program manager, previously said, “The original price we paid way back when was very fair, and all we’ve paid is inflation Russian inflation up to this point. … Yes, the price has gone up, but inflation has been higher over there than it is over here.”