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NASA Helps Russia Stay Aloft

by Polly Sprenger Polly Sprenger | Also by this reporter
03:00 AM Apr, 06, 1999 EDT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado -- NASA is spending US$60 million to get space exploration back into the headlines. Pinning its hopes on the International Space Station, NASA has raided its own budget to help the Russian Space Agency launch the next phase of the project.
The service module Russia committed to deliver for the space station is more than 17 months overdue.

"The Russian service module is delayed, and this is having an impact on us," said NASA's International Space Station program manager, Randy Brinkley. "We're providing around $60 million ... and in exchange, they're delivering more hardware. We're buying additional goods and services."

Appearing at the National Space Symposium to accept an award for space achievement, Brinkley told Wired News that the deal is nothing like a bailout.

According to Brinkley, NASA and the Russian Space Agency worked out the details of the agreement in early March. Both agencies are awaiting congressional approval of the deal.

The International Space Station is a joint effort among 16 nations. The first two major portions of the station were assembled in late 1998.

The shuttle Endeavor launched 4 December with the first US component of the space station in its payload bay. Astronauts connected this component to one launched by Russia on 20 November.

These make up the first of 40 launches expected to complete the construction of the space station over the next several years. The Russian component, called the functional cargo block, provides propulsive control and power to the station during the early phases of construction, and the American component, called Node 1 and nicknamed Unity, provides ports for connecting additional sections of the space station.

The next critical component of the space station was to have been the service module, the Russians' most significant contribution to the station. The service module is the main living area for astronauts aboard the station. It also contains the docks for supply vehicles and the life support systems for all the early elements of the space station.

Brinkley said that with the cash infusion, the service module could launch in fall 1999.
Critics say that committing this financial help to the Russian Space Agency takes money away from NASA's planned funding for research aboard the space station, according to a report in the Sunday Times of London.

Keith Cowing, a space consultant and former NASA worker who helped design the ISS, told the Times that NASA's plan involves raiding the science budget.

"NASA is taking money it had set aside for the development of science experiments and payloads for the ISS and giving it to Russia to bail it out yet again," said Cowing.

"The Russians need the funding," Brinkley said. "It's critical for minimizing schedule delays."

Getting the space station constructed is more than a matter of scientific research. Aerospace companies and other industries are eagerly waiting in the wings to participate in the project. Some 30 percent of the space station's payload capacity has been set aside for commercial use.

Doug Stone, vice president of Boeing's International Space Station program, says his company will likely submit a proposal to receive some of that research capacity.

"A lot of people want to participate," Stone said. "I don't want to speculate, but I suspect Boeing will have a real interest."

The United States Space Foundation honored both NASA and Boeing for their work on the space station at a ceremony Monday night. Stone and Brinkley accepted the Space Achievement Award, which was given for the difficult task of coordinating December's launch of Node 1, and the joining of the two components in space.

The two will be heading back to Moscow on Tuesday to continue prodding the Russian Space Agency into action.

Like other attendees, NASA and Boeing have an interest in propelling the space station into orbit. Dialogues will continue in a moderated discussion, titled "Putting Space Back on the National Agenda," slated for Wednesday.

The much-publicized space flight of Senator John Glenn in November 1998 did a lot to reignite America's passion for the Final Frontier, Brinkley said. But many in the media criticized the event as only a spectacle designed to win appropriations for the space agency.

"We've been doing a lot of the same thing for a long time with the space shuttle," Brinkley said. "[America] hasn't seen the return on its investment. Only with the international space station will we have a permanent way to see research benefits from deep space [exploration]. John Glenn and the STS crew sparked an interest. It's up to us to nurture that spark."