The NASA-Boeing-Soyuz Transaction

Jeff Foust, for SpaceNews:

In a “sources sought” procurement filing Jan. 17, NASA said it considering plans to acquire from Boeing two Soyuz seats on missions to the ISS in the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2018, and options for three additional Soyuz seats in 2019. Boeing, the filing stated, had obtained the rights to the seats from Soyuz manufacturer RSC Energia.

Energia owes Boeing $320 million plus legal fees. Most recently, Roscosmos sold NASA six Soyuz seats for $81.7 million each. If Boeing were to sell these seats to NASA for the same price, they’d get just over $408 million in payment. It’s a very odd way to get the money they’re owed, but it’ll work.

There’s been a lot of grumbling about buying more Soyuz seats for ISS flights during the time period when Commercial Crew flights are due to begin. Acquiring these seats doesn’t necessarily mean that Commercial Crew will be delayed further, though. NASA will take any and all seats it can get, and Boeing isn’t going to do anything with these five slots.

Plus, I think it’s smart to have a bit of overlap here. If and when any issues arise during the first few flights, it’d be good to have Soyuz to rely on, just as we do now.