The US will depend on Russia to put astronauts and equipment on the space station in 2010-2014 after the shutdown of the space shuttles * Senator Bill Nelson fears that Congress will not allow the extension of the exemption for NASA that allows the use of the Soyuz, within the framework of the law that prohibits the purchase of military technology from Russia due to its assistance to Iran in the nuclear field
The crisis between Georgia and Russia over the disputed regions - South Ossetia and Abkhazia, may also have consequences for NASA's ability to send astronauts to the International Space Station in the future. The US has criticized Russia's military activities and this has raised concerns about the future of NASA's use of space vehicles. the soyuz
This comes at a critical time, since in 2010 the US is supposed to disable the space shuttles. Even so, the permission to use the Soyuz is given to NASA only until 2011, when the law establishing a military embargo on the countries that trade with Iran in the field will expire (if not extended) the core If relations between the US and Russia worsen, Congress may not allow an extension of the agreement and thereby freeze any US manned involvement in space. Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, and a critic of the US space program raised the concern when he accused the Bush administration of over-reliance on Russia for future access to space. .
The law in question was passed in 2000 with the aim of convincing Russia to stop supplying nuclear technology to Iran. The law prevents the US from funding the Russian space program by not allowing it to purchase services and technologies in Russia. NASA was only exempted from this law in order to pay the Russians for their Soyuz services in bringing passengers to the space station until 2011, however the US will still need an access solution to the station during the expected five-year gap between the closure of the shuttles and the completion of the Constellation program They will be hesitant to extend the exemption if relations between the US and Russia deteriorate, putting NASA in a crisis immediately after the shut down of the shuttles. This concern has been heightened since the controversial action in Georgia, which is a US ally.
In addition, the US signed an agreement with Poland to deploy missiles to protect Europe and the US from ballistic missiles of hostile countries and Russia has already announced that a weapon system near its border is undermining the military balance in the region, which added to the tension between the parties. Nelson therefore fears that not only Russia will pay the price of its aggression, but the US will suffer as well.
As I remember recently He asked NASA Administrator Michael Griffin of the Europeans also develop a manned launch capability to reduce dependence on Russia.
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A person,
I don't agree with you. Although on the face of it it seems that channeling budgets to research planets and moons will produce more interesting information than training and housing astronauts in space, but in my opinion the effect will actually be the opposite: after all, the funding of these projects comes from the people. Taxpayers and donations. For this to happen, projects like the space station need to be shown and produced. The project to which the greatest scientists to the last citizen can connect and marvel at human success in space. I think that what the space station project gives is much more than the production of scientific lessons in it. Without this project - the other projects, in my opinion, would not exist at all.
Ami,
I don't see how closing the space station will cause a big backlog.
Perhaps a realignment of the budget could speed up the plan for the moon and Mars.
do not worry!
Hybrid will arrange extraterrestrial assistance for us.
It would be terrible if the space program was stopped. This will result in a very large backlog.