A Ukrainian astronaut may fly to the International Space Station (ISS) no earlier than 2015, the State Space Agency of Ukraine has said.
"We’re currently continuing to hold talks with Russia regarding the possibility of our astronaut’s flight to the ISS on a Russian manned spacecraft. The issue mainly concerns the financial aspects of cooperation," a service representative told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.
"As is known, Russia is raising the price of services on delivering astronauts to the ISS. If the agreement on financial issues is reached with Russia, a Ukrainian cosmonaut may fly to the ISS no earlier than 2015," he said.
The service declined to comment on the prospects for expanding cooperation with Russia in developing and testing new Russian manned and cargo spacecraft Soyuz and Progress to service the ISS, as previously stated by Russia.
Ukraine and Russia earlier agreed that they may send a Ukrainian cosmonaut on a Russian spacecraft to participate in long-term operations on the Russian segment of the ISS. A relevant agreement was reached after the eighth meeting of the sub-commission on cooperation in the space industry of the committee on economic cooperation of the Ukrainian-Russian interstate commission in Yevpatoria in October 2010.
According to foreign media reports, in 2014, Russia will increase the price of a round trip to the ISS from $56 million to $63 million.
