NASA tries to enlist Russian cosmonauts for the next two SpaceX Crew rotation missions – Crew-7 and Crew-8.

What happened: Associate NASA Administrator for Space Operations Kathy Luders said negotiations to update the existing agreement were underway roscosmos to add the Crew 7 mission to the International Space Station, reported space news. Lueders spoke at a briefing after the take-off of the Crew-6.

NASA and Roscosmos signed a seat swap agreement last July. According to the agreement, the two agencies will trade a seat on a Soyuz for a seat on a commercial crew.

Last week Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev flew with crew-6to join the Expedition 68 crew, which includes other cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev, Dimitri PetelinAnd Anna Kikin. While Soyuz MS-22 transported Roskosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin to the space station last September, Anna Kikina flew aboard Crew-5.

“We are working this through the Russian government and then of course our side again to reach a final agreement. That’s our goal so we can support integrated crews,” Lueders said, as quoted by Space News.

The Crew 7 mission is scheduled to start in the fall of this year. NASA astronaut Jasmine Moghbeli and ESA astronaut Andreas Mögensen have already been confirmed for the crew.

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