[ambrose]

It is amazing what the Soviets did with the technology they had available. They sent probes to the surface of Venus for crying out loud... I hope they do join us in another "space race"...

[VaBthang4]

With whose money?

They couldnt even afford to build their own part of the cheesy "We are the World" spacestation.

[RightWhale]

Russia said that it had the know-how to relaunch its space exploration programs

It's a subtle point. China says they can do this. Russia says they can do this. Bush says this is what we're going to do.

[ffusco]

"Russia can overtake USA," an anchorwoman on state television said Thursday, echoing comments the previous day by a top Russian space official who said that Moscow is capable of placing a man on Mars within 10 years at one tenth of the cost of reported US plans.

Much money can be saved by eliminating triple redundant back-up systems and other non-essentials. Just ask the crew of the Kursk.

[Prime Choice]

"Russia can overtake USA," an anchorwoman on state television said Thursday, echoing comments the previous day by a top Russian space official who said that Moscow is capable of placing a man on Mars within 10 years at one tenth of the cost of reported US plans.

This is an incredible claim considering that Russia never made it to the moon in the first place. The best they were able to do was send a probe to the moon...and that crashed.

On the other hand, the Russians did excel at keeping Mir in orbit well past its expected lifespan. That's no easy feat.

I wouldn't be suprised in the least if the Lunar mission and subsequent Mars mission wound up being a multi-national effort between NASA, ESA, the Russians and (don't laugh) the Chinese.

[LibWhacker]

Just remember, everybody . . . It's PPP not GDP that'll put Russia on Mars. </sarcasm>

[MrJingles]

New state-of-the-art russian booster.
(Hamster not included...)