According to Griffin, Europe's accession will reduce the pressure from the US and Russia as providers of access to the International Space Station and will serve as an insurance certificate in case of failure in the development of the Hares launchers and the Orion spacecraft
At a meeting held last Thursday in Paris between the heads of NASA and the heads of the European Space Agency, Griffin thanked his hosts for the successful launch of the unmanned Jules Verne cargo ship that brought food, water and clothing to the station. and added that this is a small step towards developing an independent capability for manned launches. "We welcome the development of an independent European capability for manned launches to provide redundant systems in the event of a failure of US or Russian capabilities.
"NASA and partners on the International Space Station have come a long way since the tragic loss of Space Shuttle Columbia in February 2003. This disaster forced the US government to rethink the strategic reasons for manned spaceflight. As a result, the US has committed to a long-term program that will include manned and robotic launches for space exploration for a variety of purposes - purposes that I believe we share with Europe. When I examine the European space policy documents as published in May by the European Space Agency and the European Commission, and when I read published reports on the subject and President Sarkozy's space policy as expressed during his visit to Coro this year, I see that we have a lot in common. We both see space as a strategic environment for creating many advantages for the economy of both the US and Europe. I see this cooperation as a factor in promoting peace in the world. We see space exploration in general and manned flights in particular, as factors that motivate and encourage our minds more than any other enterprise. We see that he inspires children to learn math, science and engineering so that they can take part in this great enterprise. As President Sarkozy commented, access to space is the seal of quality of any industrial and technological powerhouse."
Griffin added that the US is committed to the International Space Station until at least the middle of the next decade and that the need to service the station will increase when the number of permanent crew members of the station increases to six next year.
"We encourage Europe and in fact request a European partnership in manned space flights. We promote the development of Europe's independent spaceflight capability to provide redundancy systems in the event of a failure in the capabilities of one of the other partners. Between us, we have seen enough failures and today we know how to prepare for them. We believe that this will be beneficial both mutually and for each party separately, in particular if we can link the independent capabilities through shared interfaces that will allow us the technological resilience we will need for future missions beyond low Earth orbit."
As I recall, in 2010 NASA will retire the space shuttles, and all supplies, tools and scientific equipment to the station will be transported mainly by unmanned launchers until the systems that will replace the shuttle, Ares launchers and Orion vehicles are ready in 2015. In the meantime, the US will pay Russia hundreds of millions of dollars to raise its astronauts to the station. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon promised to promote the issue during the six months of France's term in the EU presidency, starting next month.
