Posted on 04/22/2011 10:00:08 AM PDT by vertolet888
Russia will not permit the first U.S. commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) unless its safety is fully tested, a high-ranking Russian space official said on Friday.
The statement comes in the wake of media reports that the spacecraft's designer, U.S. company SpaceX, requested NASA to authorize the docking in December.
"We will not issue docking permission unless the necessary level of reliability and safety [of the spacecraft] is proven. So far we have no proof that those spacecraft duly comply with the accepted norms of spaceflight safety," said Alexei Krasnov, who heads the manned spaceflight department of Russia's space agency Roscosmos.
He said that to authorize docking, the Russian space agency will need to study data about the demonstration flight due to take place later this year.
"We have received no requests from NASA on the issue," the space official said.
"This plan is realistic, and ultimately commercial spacecraft will be able to dock with the space station," he said. "But all in good time."
SpaceX, a commercial company, signed a contract with NASA to develop both the Falcon-9 carrier rocket and the Dragon vehicle. Last December, SpaceX orbited the Dragon onboard its carrier rocket and demonstrated orbital maneuvering, before the vehicle reentered the atmosphere and was recovered in the Pacific.
According to the SpaceX 2011's launch schedule, two Dragon flights are to take place in 2011. During the first flight, the spacecraft will perform the flyby of the ISS, approaching to within 10 km from the station. During the second mission, it is hoped to dock with the ISS.
MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti)
Orders from the new owners.
When the shuttle stops the Russians take ownership.
Does the ISS have any stand-off weaponry? If not, I say we board them and jettison any that dare resist.
There goes SpaceX’s cost savings over national programs.
That's bureaucratic-speak for "Not a chance in hell until we're forced to, several decades down the line."
translation: WE WANT MONEY
Bingo!
I don’t think Roscosmos even exists without the delicate jugular of cash flow from their bretheren bureaucrats at NASA. The longer NASA has to “contract” flights to ISS on Russian hardware, the longer the checks keep arriving in the mail.
>> Does the ISS have any stand-off weaponry? If not, I say we
>> board them and jettison any that dare resist.
I assume there is a /sarcasm tag somewhere in there, but in case not, then what?
I used a silent "/s."
Sorry.
Space X should tell them to stuff their old antiquated platform and proceed to build a real space station of their own. Screw the Russians, NASA and every other government elitist group that has barred the common folk from space since Chuck Yeager was forbidden to break free of the atmosphere because of the lack of a college degree.
I remember the Russians made the same demands of the Shuttle before it was allowed to dock with Mir.
== Space X should ... proceed to build a real space station of their own. ==
This thing is kinda expensive.
The ISS costs about $156 bln and is considered as the most expensive artificial object ever built: http://most-expensive.net/most-expensive-objects-ever-built
Prepare to board!
This thing is kinda expensive.
The ISS costs about $156 bln and is considered as the most expensive artificial object ever built: http://most-expensive.net/most-expensive-objects-ever-built
Yeah, true. And that’s at least in part because THE GOVERNMENT built it! I’m convinced private enterprise could do it in a far more efficient and less expensive manner...
Expensive to be sure, but considering that it was built by government agencies, civilians could probably bring it in for about 40% of that number.
Not sure but didn’t the ESA automated ship dock with the ISS on its first flight?
ESA auto dock April 2008
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMORO5QGEF_index_0.html
Also Feb 2011
http://spaceplex.com/2011/02/24/european-supply-ship-atv-johannes-kepler-docks-with-iss/
Russians concerned about safety, haha, I’m sure all their concerns can be mitigated with money.
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