[FPSPACE] COULD THE ISS BECOME A RUSSO-EUROPEAN PROJECT?

[Geert Sassen]

When will there ever be some logical long-term policy on spaceflight?

I still fail to see where the whole CEV vehicle is leading to, at utmost is
seems to be able to more or less copy the Apollo missions, which seems to me
a terrible waste of money. As has been pointed out before, it should be
possible to copy the original Apollo missions by using a re-designed soyuz
and a new to be designed lander + support stage. However, it remains
debateble if there is any use in re-flying the Apollo missions...

For real deep-space missions (moon/mars) it is useless to carry a heavy
capsule with heatshield, parachutes, etc, etc (there is no quick return
possible to earth anyway), instead you could carry more fuel and more crew
habitat. A TRUE 'Crew EXPLORATION Vehicle' should be designed for very long
deepspace missions, with lots of habitat, lots of fuel, and lots of (spare)
equipment, etc, starting and ending its voyage at ISS for re-supply and
crewchange.
Construct the whole thing from separate unmanned launches at ISS and finally
fly crew and equipment over to it by Soyuz/ATV and the likes. There is a big
difference between an exploration vehicle and a ferry. Use moon-missions as
a test for the whole concept, and then carry on to Mars. Construction of the
whole craft wil certainly cost a lot more than the present CEV but as it can
be re-used the final cost of the whole project will probably be less..

Use the space station for the function it was originally intended for: a
stepping stone for further exploration, instead of dumping the whole thing
when it's hardly finished...

If it takes too much money to get the shuttle flying again, retire the thing
and invest instead in a re-design of the remaining modules for unmanned
launch (aka FGB). IMHO dumping ISS now is a tremendous waste of money and
designing a CEV which will hardly be able to do anything more than Soyuz is
doiing already is an even bigger waste of money and energy...
Without a clear long-term policy the chances of getting the public
enthausiastic enough to support further manned space exploration seem very
small to me.

Regards,

Geert.