[FPSPACE] US House of Representatives approves NASA purchasing Russian soyuzes

[Peter Pesavento]

>From the Guardian (UK).

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/25/congress.spaceexploration

 


US House of Representatives approves Nasa buying Russian spacecraft


Purchase could allow astronauts to take trips to the international space
station once space shuttle 


*	McClatchy newspapers 
*	 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/> guardian.co.uk, 
*	Thursday September 25 2008 17:13 BST 

Nasa's top achievement in Congress this year boils down to a single sentence
- one line in a huge spending bill that would allow Nasa to circumvent an
arms-control law and purchase Russian-made Soyuz spacecraft.

For Nasa administrator Michael Griffin, that might be enough to enable him
to retire the space shuttle in 2010 and still get US astronauts to the
international space station.

Yesterday, the House approved a $630bn measure to fund the government
through next year that includes a sentence allowing Nasa to purchase Soyuz
until July 2016.

For weeks, Griffin has told lawmakers that the Soyuz is the only reliable
way to send American astronauts to the space station in the gap between the
shuttle's retirement and the planned first mission of its replacement, now
set for 2015. But he needed a waiver from the law banning high-tech
purchases from Russia because of that country's sale of nuclear materials to
Iran.

Now it's up to the Senate, where a key panel approved the same waiver on
Tuesday. Passage is considered likely because it is attached to the spending
bill - "must-pass" legislation before Congress adjourns for the year.

The tipping point may have come earlier this week when presidential
candidate Barack Obama sent a letter to Democratic leaders in Congress
urging them to OK the waiver.

"At the end of 2011, Nasa will no longer even have the legal authority to
continue paying Russia for Soyuz flights, so unless we act immediately, the
US will abandon its role in supporting, and benefiting from, missions to
this amazing facility, leaving it to our international partners," he wrote.

The House action dealt a sharp blow to Representative Dave Weldon, a Florida
Republican who fought against the waiver. 

The retiring lawmaker wants Nasa and Congress to extend the shuttle program
- and associated jobs at Kennedy Space Centre - rather than rely on the
Russians.
"It's a disappointment," said Weldon spokesman Derek Baker. "We're still
pushing for an extension to the shuttle. It's the right thing to do for
Florida, national security and the space program."

But Weldon has been unable to recruit allies, even in central Florida.

Representative Tom Feeney, also a Republican from Florida, said he
"reluctantly" supported the waiver. "However, the use of the Russian Soyuz
should be a last, rather than first, option to providing American astronauts
access to the international space station," he said.

Feeney said he would introduce legislation today that would pump $11bn more
into Nasa so that the agency can continue to fly the shuttle through 2012
and accelerate development of its successor.

But the measure has little chance of moving in the waning days of this
Congress.

 

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