Nasa to go cap in hand to Russia to purchase Soyuz spacecraft

[JohnyCanuck]

US House of Representatives approves Nasa buying Russian spacecraft
Purchase could allow astronauts to take trips to the international space station once space shuttle is retired

Nasa's top achievement in Congress this year boils down to a single sentence - one line in a huge spending bill that would allow Nasa to circumvent an arms-control law and purchase Russian-made Soyuz spacecraft.

For Nasa administrator Michael Griffin, that might be enough to enable him to retire the space shuttle in 2010 and still get US astronauts to the international space station.

Yesterday, the House approved a $630bn measure to fund the government through next year that includes a sentence allowing Nasa to purchase Soyuz until July 2016.

For weeks, Griffin has told lawmakers that the Soyuz is the only reliable way to send American astronauts to the space station in the gap between the shuttle's retirement and the planned first mission of its replacement, now set for 2015. But he needed a waiver from the law banning high-tech purchases from Russia because of that country's sale of nuclear materials to Iran.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/25/congress.spaceexploration

If I were the Russians I would tell Nasa that the US can take some of the billions that the US "defense" industries use to develop missile systems to install on Russia's front doorstep and go build their own damn spacecraft.

[FarCenter]

1. We don't actually get a Soyuz -- this pays for rides

on a Soyuz capsule launched by Russian rockets.

In othe words, we are paying to use their taxi service because our SUV is old and broken down.

[JohnyCanuck]

2. So Nasa goes cap in hand to Russia looking for for a taxi service.

Again if I were in the Russians' position, I would tell Nasa to take just a few of the billions the US is using to encircle Russia with NATO bases and missile systems and go build themselves a new SUV. If there will be too many years go by after the old SUV goes to the wreckers and before their new SUV gets from the drawing board to the showroom floor, well tough, maybe the US government should think of revamping its spending priorities.

[metapunditedgy]

3. NASA, shuttle, Russia

There's a long and complex history to this. Under the Bush admin, NASA has been taking money away from its science and research and using it to support manned space flight. Unfortunately, they are not able to design a shuttle replacement quickly enough, and the existing shuttle is not very safe anymore.

They are arguing that we _must_ have access to the International Space Station, but I have yet to hear a good argument for what we are gaining (specifically) from the ISS.

The bottom line for politics is that the shuttle and spaceflight are a huge industry, and may influence Florida voters, since shutting down the shuttle will cost plenty of FL jobs.

Some interesting backstory can be found here.
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2008/09/mike_griffins_l_2.html