JAKARTA, September 28 (HS/RIA Novosti) - Disputes between NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX regarding safety requirements, including the number of onboard computers, delayed preparations for the first flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, Russian test cosmonaut Nikolai Tikhonov told RIA Novosti.

The first test launch of Crew Dragon took place on March 2, 2019, the spacecraft traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) uncrewed.

NASA says, 'Build three computers.' Musk says, 'I’m going to build one. Why do I need three?' He evaluates reliability in terms of functionality: the functions are performed, and there is functional redundancy. 'But if your computer fails, what will you do?' — 'I’ll fly it manually. Why do I need three computers?' — 'No, you have to build three computers. It’s a matter of safety.' They argued about this for more than four years, Tikhonov recounted.

According to the cosmonaut, requirements for onboard computers were just one of the points on which the parties could not agree. The cosmonaut said that NASA had not approved a whole list of solutions related to the spacecraft's safety.

And while they were arguing and talking, more than four years went by, he noted.

The first flight with a crew on board began on May 30, 2020, when a Falcon 9 rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley. This launch marked the first crewed mission from US soil since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.

Tikhonov was enrolled in the cosmonaut corps in 2006 and qualified as a test cosmonaut in 2009. He underwent training for ISS expeditions, including as commander of the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft. In 2020, he left the cosmonaut corps for health reasons.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar