Roscosmos and NASA have agreed to more closely coordinate satellite constellations to reduce the risk of orbital collisions. According to Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov, both countries operate hundreds and thousands of spacecraft, so such risks cannot be ignored.
Bakanov noted that colleagues from NASA approached them with a proposal for more detailed coordination. He called this request logical.
There are risks of collisions, and this cannot be allowed, so we will interact very closely in this direction between Roscosmos and NASA.
The statement came after the arrival of a new crew at the ISS. The Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle with a manned spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 17:48 Moscow time.
The spacecraft docked with the orbital station at 20:53 on the same day. The crew included Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, who became the crew commander, Anna Kikina, the first female TASS special correspondent on the ISS, and NASA astronaut Anil Menon.
The expected duration of the mission is 261 days.