"On Sunday we'll fly to the United States to discuss the resumption of shuttle services. We are not optimistic about the Discovery launch in July," he said.
Simultaneously, Krasnov opined that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration might come up with an original technical move and replace the Discovery's problematic fuel tank by a similar one taken from the Atlantis shuttle.
According to him, this way NASA may meet its earlier fixed launch day of Discovery, the first shuttle to be launched after the Columbia catastrophe on February 1, 2003.
If the shuttle service is not resumed in the pre-set time, Roskosmos is going to bring up before the ISS construction partners the issue of adjusting its development plans, the Roskosmos deputy head, Alexander Medvedchikov, said this to journalists on Friday.
"If the shuttle service is not resumed, the Russian side will have to seek its own ways of making up for the unforeseen expenses. The rights and obligations of all the ISS partners will have to be revised," he said.
