Senate Clears NASA to Buy Russian Spaceships

Space.com ^ | 21 September 2005 | Brian Berger

[Dan Evans]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate approved Sept. 21 a bill that would clear the way for NASA to buy the Russian Soyuz vehicles it needs to continue to occupy the International Space Station beyond this year.

The bill was introduced Sept. 15 by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) to provide temporary relief from provisions in the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 that bar U.S. purchases of Russian human spaceflight hardware as long as Russia continues to help Iran in its pursuit of nuclear know-how and advanced weapons technology.

Lugar’s bill, S. 1713, changes the law to permit NASA to buy any Russian space hardware or services it needs for the International Space Station program until 2012.

The bill was approved the morning of Sept. 21 by unanimous consent, a Senate procedure that allows non-controversial legislation to bypass a floor vote.

The U.S. House of Representatives also is considering amending the Iran Nonproliferation Act to permit NASA to buy Soyuz vehicles, but it has yet to take any legislative action.

The House could either pick up and pass the Senate’s bill or introduce a bill of its own that would have to be reconciled with the Senate version before becoming law.

Without relief from the Iran act, NASA could soon find itself unable to send its astronauts to the space station for extended stays. A Soyuz capsule set to carry a new two-person crew – and one space tourist – to the station Sept. 30 is the last one Russia is obligated to provide at no charge to the United States under a bilateral agreement.

NASA and the U.S. State Department formally asked Congress in June to amend the Iran act to permit the United States to make use of Russian space technology in its space exploration plans.

[ARCADIA]

The only other alternative NASA has is to shutdown our portions of the ISS for an unknown period and hope the cash-strapped Russians don't either abandon the ISS entirely or turn the thing into a branch of the Hilton hotel chain before we can get back up there.

That sounds perfect to me. Let the worthless POS take a dive into the Pacific. If NSA wants to do something worthwhile, then I am all for it, but ISS is not anywhere near my definition of worthwhile. It's only purpose has been to provide a destination for the shuttle; no shuttle = no purpose.

[TalonDJ]

NASA needs to get out of the administration mode and let the engineers loose!

What they need to do is CUT the engineers lose and by their services from the private sector. Engineers with poor management are a money pit (I am one) and NASA has show it does a poor job in that area.

[TalonDJ]

This is great! It opens the doors to NASA buying other space services from our own private sector.

[Gekko The Great]

If government weren't taking 40% of our wealth, most of space research would be funded by private investors.

I doubt it. Too long of a wait for the payoff. Too much risk of getting nothing in return. Better to invest in entertainment companies and casinos. Heck, I could greenmail a company into a quick-flip $20 mil or so in a month's time, and you think I'm going to spend a dime on something that might take 20 years to pay off? Forget that! Better to buy up companies, fire their workers, and sell off the assets to foreign bidders. That's the business model in vogue today in this country. Get with the program, dude...

[Rockitz]

The bill was introduced Sept. 15 by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.)

They don't call him Dick for nothing.

[RussianJew]

Overall, I'd say probably not. More recently, that's probably true. For the first twenty to thirty years, their program was highly secret, and failures were not made public. Only recently have we become aware of some of the tragic losses of the Soviet space program.

Cosmonauts losses:

In space: 1+3=4 cosmonauts (during athmosphere reentering). This tragedies were well known to the Soviet public.

On earth: 1 cosmonaut (blast of pure oxygen in the prototype capsule, the same that happened to Apollo - 1 ?).

Gagarin, the first man that was in the space, died during the training flight on MIG jet.

[GarySpFc]

It's embarrassing because we should be making our own spacecraft and because NASA is considering doing business with a regime that is doing joint military exercises with China.

I suspect you are not aware of it, but the United States Army will be having a large scale military excercise with the Russian Army in the Moscow region in 2007.

[andyk]

You're talking only about cosmonauts. I'm referring to accidents or deaths involving the space program itself, which applies to the use of their technology. Keep in mind, I already noted that the more recent program of Russia has been more safe than ours.

Two launches to Mars on the 13th and 15th of October had failed while he was preparing to make a big propaganda speech at the United Nations bragging once again about the superiority of the Communist system. His appointed lackey, Field Marshal Nedelin, was told to launch a vehicle to Mars, or else. When the countdown reached zero, the huge SS-6 rocket did not ignite. Feeling the pressure from Khrushchev, Nedelin disobeyed all safety regulations concerning rocket misfires and sent the technicians out to work on the rocket. Korolev was extremely safety conscious and he argued with Nedelin about sending the engineers out to accomplish maintenance on the unstable space vehicle. In an action of bravado, Nedelin took his entire staff and some chairs to sit by the rocket as it was being inspected by the technicians. Korolev and a deputy Yangel went into a blast shelter to have a cigarette when the rocket exploded. Instantly, Nedelin, his staff, their chairs, and over 100 technicians on the rocket were incinerated in the worst accident in the history of the Soviet space program. Rather than admitting that such an event occurred, the Soviet Press claimed that Nedelin was killed in an aircraft accident.

You can find that here.

[GarySpFc]

First, would you buy a Russian made car?
Second, have you seen the Russian space program's safety record?

They purchase many American cars, and have our factories manufacturing them in Russia. Furthermore, I wonder how you will feel about riding in the new Boeing 787 and 747 Advanced, which are both designed at Boeing's Design Center in Moscow.

[Rockitz]

I can confirm this. It is widely known in the industry.

[chimera]

This is great! It opens the doors to NASA buying other space services from our own private sector.

They do that already. They're called "contractors". The work I've done for NASA over the years has been as a subcontractor for a prime contractor. All private-sector employers. Grumman (a private company) built the lunar module for NASA's Apollo program as a contractor. North American has had a lot of work. Rocketdyne has been a contractor. So has General Electric and General Dynamics. Private companies all.

People here need to get off of their "government workers" high horse. Much, if not most, of the work done in these programs is contracted to the private sector.

[RussianJew]

First, would you buy a Russian made car?

Russian Cars:

GAZ-Volga3111:

VAZ-ShevyNiva:

VAZ-Lada Priora

VAZ-Lada Kalina

It's only a few of them....

[RightWhale]

it will happen because donors and investors will voluntarily pay for it.

Establish private property rights first.

[lewislynn]

NASA wants to buy spaceships from Russia. How embarrassing

They should be careful what they wish for...Why stop at spaceships, why not outsource all of NASA to Russia?

[rattrap]

Did they just rebadge a bonneville for the first one?

[EricT.]

That's all wonderful, but why aren't they being marketed to North America? Any piece of junk can be made to look good by a professional photographer. Hell, Ford and AMC proved that in the 1970's.

[RussianJew]

Have no idea about that. :)

[EricT.]

I wonder how you will feel about riding in the new Boeing 787 and 747 Advanced, which are both designed at Boeing's Design Center in Moscow.

Where are they being built? If they are being built in Moscow, I think I'll take my chances with SWA's 737 fleet.

[RussianJew]

I won't say you , that these cars are awesome. Do you remember the begining of japan car industry? Where they were and where they are now. It all takes time. Especially for the country, that sustained one of the strongest national crisises of its history. (BTW, where is the japanize Spacectraft? :))

[GarySpFc]

Where are they being built? If they are being built in Moscow, I think I'll take my chances with SWA's 737 fleet.

They are being built all over the world and assembled in Washington state. That said, according to my rocket engineer buddy they build the best rocket boosters in the world. Russia has come a long way since the fall of the iron curtain.