International   

No more free rides for U.S. astronauts

Vladimir Radyuhin

Russian decision follows NASA move

MOSCOW: Beginning next year Russia will stop giving free rides to American astronauts aboard its spaceships, a space official said.

Commenting on NASA's decision to launch no shuttles till March 2006, Director of the Russian manned space flight programme Alexei Krasnov said space agency Roskosmos would have fulfilled its obligations to NASA for ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) by the end of the year.

After the shuttle programme was suspended following the Columbia disaster in February 2003, Russia agreed to a temporary barter scheme by which it launched astronauts to the ISS in exchange for the writing off of man-hour debts Roskosmos owned NASA for work carried out on the station earlier. The agreement expires on December 31, and by spring 2006 so will Russia's obligation to provide NASA with Soyuz spacecraft for emergency return of American crewmen from ISS to Earth.

Mr. Krasnov was quoted as saying that in 2006 Russia's three-seat Soyuz spacecraft will carry only two Russian cosmonauts to free extra room for transporting supplies and equipment. "Since shuttles will not fly again till next spring we must rely on our own forces to supply ISS," the Kommersant daily quoted him as saying.

He said Roskosmos was willing to sell NASA Soyuz spaceships for about $65 million a piece. The 2000 Iran Non-proliferation Act prevents NASA from paying Russia any money. In September, the U.S. Congress is to debate a request by NASA and the State Department to waive the ban.

The new delay in the resumption of the shuttle programme casts doubts on the further construction of the International Space Station. Many sections of the $95-billion station built by Russia, the European Space Agency and Japan are too big for Soyuz spacecraft and can only be lifted to orbit by U.S. shuttles.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Hamas vows to continue fight
British police rethink shoot-to-kill policy
Opposition strike peaceful in Bangladesh
Soldier hanged to death for bid on Pervez Musharraf
Girl survives 45-metre fall
Sino-Russian drill moves to China
No more free rides for U.S. astronauts
Racial health gap in U.S.
Curbs on arsonist rejected
London finds an eco-friendly mode of transport

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu