US funding of Russian spacecraft eyed

By David Holley, Los Angeles Times, 2/12/2003

OSCOW - NASA and the Russian space agency are discussing possible US funding of Russian spacecraft in order to head off the risk that the orbiting International Space Station will need to be left without a crew, Russian and American space officials said yesterday.

A US law aimed at pressuring Russia to cut back on cooperation with Iran in the field of nuclear power currently blocks such a space vehicle deal, but ways to overcome that obstacle are being examined, the officials said.

With the loss of the space shuttle Columbia leading to grounding of the US shuttle fleet for an indefinite period, Russia's Progress cargo craft and three-person Soyuz space vehicles are the only available ways to carry supplies to the station or ferry crews back and forth. Russian officials have said that they do not have enough of either type of vehicle to meet the station's needs.

While the orbital outpost could be left for a period of time without a crew, it could be lost if something went wrong while no one was on board, according to US and Russian officials.

''Last week when our deputy director Nikolai Moiseyev was visiting the United States, our colleagues from NASA approached him with a request to establish whether a new Progress ship can be built this year and how much it would cost,'' Sergei A. Gorbunov, spokesman for the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, told The Times yesterday. ''We are expected to give them the answer within two weeks.''

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Despite NASA's interest, ''no assurances or promises of funding have yet been made,'' Gorbunov said.

Don Savage, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration headquarters spokesman, said he could not confirm specific details, but said that NASA is holding discussions with a number of countries to develop a backup plan for the space station.

''There are ongoing discussions with all of the International Space Station partners,'' he said.

This story ran on page A11 of the Boston Globe on 2/12/2003.
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