[FPSPACE] Spacecraft Maker Says Russia No Longer to Carry Supplies to ISS for Free

[Jim Oberg]

Spacecraft Maker Says Russia No Longer to Carry Supplies to ISS for Free
Created: 04.08.2004 16:18 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:18 MSK , 

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/08/04/iss.shtml

MosNews



Russia will resume construction of a new section of the International Space Station (ISS) and will cease being a free "space carrier" for NASA, Aleksandr Aleksandrov, head of the test-flight service of Russia's Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK) Energiya told ITAR-TASS. 

According to Aleksandrov, the new section of the station may be built on the basis of the 2nd functional cargo bloc (FGB-2), currently stored on the premises of the Khrunichev space center. 

Energiya mulls the plans of building a new module on the basis of FGB-2, which could be used not only for storing cargos and equipment but also as a place where the crew could work and rest, Aleksandrov noted. 

FGB-2 was developed as a standby module for the Zarya bloc, the first Russian-built component of the ISS. Aleksandrov would not elaborate on the possible timing of the launch of the module, saying only that "everything will depend on financing". 

The construction of ISS was essentially suspected in the wake of NASA's shuttle Columbia disaster in February 2003. Ever since Russia's Progress has been used to deliver cargos to the space station. 

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