Is Russia’s Financial Crunch Forcing Roscosmos To Reduce International Space Station Crew Size?

New reports suggest Russia is planning to reduce the size of its crew on the International Space Station from three to just two. The typical ISS team comprises of six members- three Russians, two Americans, and generally one astronaut from Canada, Japan, or one of the 11 countries that belong to the European Space Agency (ESA).

According to Russian newspaper Izvestia, the country's state-run space corporation, Roscosmos, is considering to reduce its presence on the International Space Station as a move to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Roscosmos director of human spaceflight, Sergei Krikalev, said that they have already sent a letter about the possible move to the participants of the ISS program, reported Space.com.

The news was confirmed by NASA officials on Monday during a televised press briefing at Johnson Space Center. NASA's Kenneth Todd said that all the ISS partners have been made aware of Russia's potential plans to cut its crew size to two. It was, however, stated that the plans are still in the proposal stage. "At this point it is strictly a proposal they have put on the table and we will look at it," Todd said.

The announcement comes after Russia drastically reduced Roscosmos's ten-year budget to just $20.5 billion (£15.7 billion). The budget is barely more than what NASA receives in a single year. It is believed that falling oil prices and Russia's annexation of Crimea has resulted in economic hardships for the country. This is the reason that Russia has decided to slash the space corporation's budget by 60 percent, down from a once-proposed top line of $50.4 billion, reported The Verge.

On top of that it is expected that Russians will not get any financial help from NASA for astronaut delivery after 2017. As both SpaceX and Boeing will start sending crew to the ISS, the $80m grant which was earlier provided to Roscosmos per launch will no longer be pouring in.