According to the author of the article entitled “The status of Russia as a space power will come to an end with the launch of NASA commercial flights,” published in The Hill, “two incidents a year ago demonstrate growing quality control problems in the space program.”
Whittington notes that Russia will also "miss the $ 85 million from the US that they pay for flights on Soyuz," according to the journalist, the situation is aggravated by the fact that the Russian economy is "dependent on oil and gas" and "suffers from corruption. ”
In early October, it was reported that NASA was in talks with Roskosmos to purchase new seats on Soyuz spacecraft to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station after spring 2020.
Also, the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said that the Americans expect in 2020 to start flying to the ISS on their SpaceX and Starliner Crew Dragon ships.
He noted that in this case, two Soyuz spacecraft would be enough for the state corporation to send crews to the ISS.