World

Coming Soon: Russia Will Control Only Access to International Space Station

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) — As a Soyuz spacecraft slowly rolls to its launchpad on the icy cold steppes of Kazakhstan, even the most seasoned space fan cannot help but be spellbound by the sight.

With NASA finally retiring the shuttle program next year, the venerable Russian workhorse is now set to become the world’s only lifeline to the International Space Station. That predicament is provoking mixed feelings of concern over excess reliance on Russia’s space program and enduring admiration for the hardiness of the Soviet-designed Soyuz.

“The vehicle is a rugged ‘one trick pony,’ no frills or luxuries, and can take any licking and keep on ticking,” said James Oberg, a veteran of NASA Space Shuttle Mission Control in Houston.

The next Soyuz mission begins Thursday, when NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman, Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and European Space Agency’s Paolo Nespoli of Italy lift off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan.

In a procedure polished over more than four decades of Soyuz launches, the carrier rocket was horizontally rolled out of its hangar on a flatbed train at 7 a.m. local time Monday and carefully carried to the blastoff site in the winter darkness.

In contrast to NASA’s distinctive winged shuttle, which is reusable albeit exorbitantly expensive to operate, the Soyuz can only be used once. It is a relatively streamlined craft consisting of a tiny capsule sitting atop powerful booster rockets.

The name, which comes from the Russian word for “union,” was both a tribute to its Soviet design and a reference to the Soyuz’s ability to dock with other modules. That detail was an absolute must even to begin thinking about long-term space missions or possible travel beyond the Earth’s orbit.

Whereas the shuttle’s viability has been hamstrung by countless delays, the last time a Soyuz launch was postponed was as far back as 1971.

Yet for all its trustworthiness, the first Soyuz launch in April 1967 ended in tragedy when Col. Vladimir Komarov, the sole cosmonaut onboard, died on re-entry.

Soviet authorities had grown alarmed at U.S. strides in the space race and had pushed for hasty deployment of the Soyuz before the United States could get its Apollo rocket off the ground.

That Soyuz disaster led to an immediate postponement of manned flights and injected a new spirit of caution into the Soviet space program. A minute attention to detail, most evident in Russian space officials’ obsession with running operations on a timetable counted in seconds, has earned the Soyuz a well-deserved reputation for safety.

“My biggest dream in life has always been to fly in orbit someday, but I can tell you that I would feel a hell of a lot more at ease in a Soyuz than in a shuttle,” space historian Bert Vis said.

Despite such oft-heard endorsements, a clutch of incidents in recent years has aroused concern. Most notably, problems with the Soyuz capsule’s service module during a landing in April 2008 caused a perilously steep re-entry trajectory, which placed crushing gravitational pressure on its three-person crew.

Ahead of watching the Soyuz being winched into place at the launchpad Monday, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who traveled onboard that capsule, said the luxuries afforded by the shuttle would indeed be missed.

“The Soyuz is kind of a gentler launch, but I’d much rather land in a shuttle, because it’s much more civilized,” Whitson said.

Critics also complain that by leaving themselves so heavily reliant on the Soyuz, the United States could fall victim to costly price gouging at the hands of Russian space authorities.

“Moscow already uses it for leverage and has raised the price to NASA repeatedly over the years, to $50 million now,” said Brian Harvey, an expert on the history of the Russian space program. “But a shuttle launch costs $550 million a go, so it’s still good value.”

And while the Russian space program is set to enjoy almost a complete monopoly on ferrying people to space for the next few years, things might change. The successful test launch last week of a privately developed rocket from Cape Canaveral is a clear example of how the market could breed viable space competitors.

“If new, commercially developed space transportation systems in the West leapfrog the tried-and-true Russian booster stable in the next decade, Russia will be left with no significant capability of interest to foreign customers,” Oberg said.

The politics and economics of space travel is usually far from astronauts’ minds, however, and while in Baikonur, most relish the pleasure of witnessing the ingenuity that goes into assembling the rockets.

“It was Michelangelo that said the sculpture was always inside the rock, I just have to take away the unnecessary pieces. The Soyuz is one of those sculptures,” said Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who plans to fly to the International Space Station onboard a Soyuz spacecraft in 2012.

Comments (70)

1 2
  • historypaper
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 2:45pm

    In less than five years, we will struggle with Russia. Everybody will be surprised. Russia is on the move and Obama is standing still. Obama the Fool.

    Report Post » historypaper  
    • nptden
      Posted on December 14, 2010 at 4:13am

      What struggle?..They already sold us out to the Ruskies and Chinese. Haven‘t you heard it’s gonna be a New World Order. called Globalism…only our military is in the way…They are working on that. Demoralize them with ‘Don’t Ask Don‘t Tell’; monitored by Diversity Officers. Keep them O’Seas while they build forces from south of the border. Of course the UN will be in their control, our troops will be accused and prosecuted for war crimes. Our wealthy are already being targeted with the old ‘Capitalist’ line. TSA will ensure no one can leave the country. Homeland Defense will replace police, and the FBI. EEOC and EPA will be the new Gestapo unit. Dept of Education will function a la Goebels as Dept of Propaganda. Big Brother will be assigned, not elected.

      Report Post » nptden  
  • Rob
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 1:57pm

    While NASA kisses Obama’s Muslim roots… how did we get to this point????

    Report Post »  
  • Carbonsteel
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 12:56pm

    I never thought I would live to see the end of the manned American space program.

    But, two more shuttle missions and I will be here to see it.

    Report Post »  
  • ChiefGeorge
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 11:32am

    Well maybe this kind of no frill space travel will rule out the wannabes and sissys in our space program.

    Report Post » ChiefGeorge  
  • BurntHills
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 11:13am

    thanks, obama you vile moron. is this the moron’s SPUTNIK moment, handing over all our gains in Space? someone please just shoot obama up into space, put his little bikey helmet on him and call it Bonzo Part 2.

    Report Post » BurntHills  
  • ginger100
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 11:05am

    Yeah, unionize NASA so it works like GM.

    Report Post » ginger100  
  • RightPolitically
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 10:48am

    Further co-operation with the Russians is a HUGE MISTAKE….No treaties, NO NOTHING!

    Report Post » RightPolitically  
  • psst
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 10:08am

    If our astronauts joins the AFLCIO or SEIU (maybe the teachers union)ASAP. The US would have a brand new kind of shuttle next month.Maybe even next week. Shovel ready jobs.
    After-all ,union campaign cash talks. BS walks.

    Report Post »  
  • Richio
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:50am

    “sputnik moment”?

    Report Post »  
  • capitalismrocks
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:36am

    The Jupiter Direct project will save NASA despite Obama destroying the US Space Program, Obama should be truly shamed, what was the legacy of John F. Kennedy, a truly bright and great President, a man who was more Conservative and forward thinking then his Democratic label gave him credit for, a President who rallied our great Nation, pull this country together for the great Space Race, put us on the Moon and further more, had the sensible thinking of cutting taxes & regulations….

    Obama has destroyed the great legacy of JFK by killing NASA’s future, but a band of think outside the box NASA engineers have created the DIRECT system – Project Jupiter and it could save NASA, keep us in space, continue to man the space station and bring us back to the moon…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diD20nLA8YM&feature=related

    Contact Congress… tell them the Jupiter DIRECT system, Version3 is the way to go… all of the existing NASA designs and contractors can be utilized, it uses technology we’ve already invested time and expense into and can put us back into space almost immediately!

    Report Post » capitalismrocks  
  • Sledgehammer
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:32am

    Near all above is spot on! But will our space jocks have to go through the Russian version of the TSA “pat down”?

    Report Post » Sledgehammer  
  • Randjet
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:31am

    How far we fallen.

    Report Post »  
  • MamaofJ5
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:28am

    Wow, how sad.

    Report Post »  
  • mankind7375
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:27am

    Does this mean that soon Obama will appoint a space Czar

    Report Post »  
  • SuperNoVaMoma
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:24am

    @LEFTFIGHTER – I see your points in your first comment but I do want you to clarify your position on the Consitutionality with this government program versus any other entitlement and/or massive spending program consuming our Federal dollars. It’s critical to be consistent whether we find one justifiable over the other. Most of the UN-constitutional Federal programs are “beneficial” for those within our borders but space exploration and any shuttle programs are really about maintaining our position as the leading innovator in the world – an issue BO apologizes for too often… so, in order to demonstrate he’s “serious” about cutting wasteful spending, he cuts our most proud and adored program we have.

    I’d love to see space exploration fully privatized just as much as any other Federal program (except the military) but we’re not in a position to sever that cord just yet. It speaks volumes about our priorities and how other nations perceive us.

    So I concur with the sarcasim and anger stated in these posts. Especially the idea of putting BO on the new test rocket soon to be deployed ;-)

    Report Post »  
  • spreadcommonsensenot pc
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:14am

    Obama has got to be part “French” tooooooooo——the French quit,run,surrender,apologize–GIVE UP

    Report Post »  
  • wash1776
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:09am

    Since we now have a communist President (calling him that makes me sick to my stomach) there is nothing else we can expect. All of the money from the taxpayers that went into the space station and shuttle program is now down the drain. THANKS FOR HELPING RUSSIA AGAIN YOU PIECE OF GARBAGE. I so sincerely HOPE YOU GET YOUR A– KICKED OUT IN 2012.

    Report Post »  
    • PatriotDaze
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:23am

      1776. I slight dose of reality: The decision to phase out the Space Shuttle was made well before Obama was in the senate….much less the white house. And through several administrations, and a congress controlled by both parties…..no one saw fit to insure that the replacement was on line before the old fleet crapped out.

      Report Post » PatriotDaze  
    • wash1776
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 12:46pm

      PATRIOTDAZE! You are the last person I need a dose of reality from!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Report Post »  
  • emmanuel Goldstein
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:09am

    So, we pay for the dang thing and now the russians will control it? I say we put a ASAT into the middle of the thing and bring it down. :[

    Report Post » emmanuel Goldstein  
  • Cuthalu
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:02am

    And they along with China and India will have full reign of the moon, mars, the asteroid belt and anything else they please. I am sure some conservatives think, oh well about NASA or our space race as wasted money. Not understanding how much wealth and future expansion for mankind exists out there for our taking yet we are basically handing off our future to Russia, China and India.

    Our future IS in space. If we do not wake up and take the leadership of the space race then we will be left in the dust.

    Report Post »  
    • TruthLover
      Posted on December 14, 2010 at 1:10am

      No, they don’t have control of all the stars. I bought Riso 468 a few years ago for my son…lol.

      Gog and magog. The time is coming!

      Report Post » TruthLover  
  • momsense
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:58am

    We need an old fashioned purge of the Cancer that’s killing this country from the EPA on down—–but epsecially the EPA.

    Report Post »  
    • untameable-kate
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:44am

      Agree!

      Report Post » Untameable-kate  
    • antimaher
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:44am

      A good place to start is a review of the 582 U.S. Government Departments and Agencies. Surely all of these agencies aren’t necessary. How many are even legal constitutionally? If the ones that are legal are operated like government agencies I’ve been acquainted with, 50 – 75% of the people employed aren’t necessary. Such a review should easily cut the size of government in half, if not more.

      Report Post »  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 3:29pm

      Don’t forget the FDA. It’s every bit as bad as the EPA if not worse.

      Report Post »  
  • TXPilot
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:39am

    Oh well, I guess while the the Russians continue to launch their rockets, we can sit around watching our government launch multiple, policy agendas.

    Report Post » TXPilot  
    • Spawnomite
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:45am

      I dunno.
      I think the Democrats and any sympathizer is going to need some place to hide. Earth isn’t that big.

       
  • Spawnomite
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:39am

    Not like we are going to do anything about it.

    Obama will just hand over the space station as a gesture of good will since he thinks America is so bad.

    Besides, Obama has his sights set on the Death Star. Far more impressive.

     
  • @leftfighter
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:37am

    This can’t possibly end badly.

    Report Post » @leftfighter  
    • guyperram
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:49am

      Oh yes it will. They hold, and control the “high ground”. Read your Sun Tsu if you don’t know what I mean.
      Just give them a few years. All you have to do to win a space war against ground defenses is drop stones on them. They are called kinetic energy weapons.

      Report Post »  
    • @leftfighter
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:53am

      @ guyperram

      LOL, OK, now go back and read sarcasm into that post… ;-)

      Report Post » @leftfighter  
    • docvet
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 11:05am

      Don’t be supprised if an additional lead lined pod appears on the station where only Russians can enter to assemble ….., uh, lead lined, only Russians, Hmm, what could it be?

      Report Post »  
    • FromtheBasement
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 1:01pm

      I don’t know. I’m a huge fan of space exploration and the shuttle program, but it simply wasn’t as cost effective as NASA had hoped. I see this as a great opportunity for the ideals of capitalism and for US companies to start to shine. US companies have always been great as developers of new technologies. I see this as a way for that tradition to reignite, as it were.

      Report Post » FromtheBasement  
    • MCAinSTL
      Posted on December 15, 2010 at 1:10am

      Actually, let them have it, and all it’s maintance costs. It won’t be long until it falls in the same state of disrepair as the Mir space station did, then it falls back to earth.

      Report Post » MCAinSTL  
  • GeauxAlready
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:34am

    We at NASA are to busy making the muslims fell good to worry bout “Some Stinking Space Station”……..

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
    • RepubliCorp
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:14am

      Hey but we have the money for million dollar turtle tunnels here in Florida. But no one told the the turtles how to use them…………And China is busy building solar panels and wind mills for us (installed by Mexicans). So look at the good news too…………Obama the charlatan is doing a great job!

      Report Post » RepubliCorp  
    • IntheKnowOG
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:53am

      @RepubliCorp

      Don’t forget our 8 billion dollar “monorail” (al la “The Simpsons” episode) through Orlampa. All those engineers at Cape Canaveral will need jobs doing something. I wonder who they will hire to work on it…..not the people who have been unemployed from the private sector, no way. Garbage in, garbage out.

      Report Post » IntheKnowOG  
    • neverending
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 10:03am

      Gotta make sure they get the credit – can’t leave those bastards out.

      Report Post »  
  • Tractor
    Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:32am

    And all this thanks to 0bama, WOW. Maybe he would like to be on one of the test rockets soon to be deployed.

    Report Post »  
    • guyperram
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:46am

      Hey, remember the space race? Well they won. Isn’t national socialism wonderful?

      Report Post »  
    • untameable-kate
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:47am

      Obama is a filthy whore for the rest of the world, spitting on the country I love and smiling at child molesters and worshipping murderers. Working on disarming our country, putting NASA to work appeasing the bad guys, and enslaving our children for generations to come to pay fer his socialist dream.

      Untameable-kate  
    • @leftfighter
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 8:51am

      I disagree with the “Thanks to Obama” sentiment here.

      Yes, he cut funding to NASA and doesn’t seem to be at all interested in continuing to fund it (we all know entitlement programs need the money more), but let’s face it: the Shuttle program has been scheduled to be ended for more than a decade now.

      The fact that they’re still flying after 30 years is a miracle of engineering and technology (not to mention that they successfully upgraded most of the flight systems from being not too different from most 1970′s-era passenger planes to what was, at one point, cutting edge digital technology).

      My point is, the STS system has been amazingly durable, but we’ve know it would come to an end for years now. The fact that the new system isn’t coming online for several years only belies what we already know: government, even when it sees a problem coming decades away, never reacts in time. (Hello, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, etc.)

      Frankly, I’m surprised nobody ever challenged the Constitutionality of NASA spending. We know it was begun under the Cold War as a defensive measure to keep the high ground over the Soviets (so it *had* national defense ramifications, but hasn’t in 20 years).

      Don’t get me wrong: I support space exploration, but there’s no Constitutional justification for the program anymore. It’s time to privatize.

      I still say could easily end badly, though.

      Report Post » @leftfighter  
    • IntheKnowOG
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 9:57am

      “clear example of how the market could breed viable space competitors.”

      Attention all Socialist morons. Scratch out “space competitors” and insert ANY business (your name here). This basic economice premise ALWAYS works when it’s not manipulated or regulated centrally.

      Report Post » IntheKnowOG  
    • cognitivedissonance
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 10:58am

      Yeah, this isn’t a “Blame Obama” situation, the Space Shuttle has been on the way out for the last decade and no president has done anything to replace it, but it seems now that NASA is hoping private companies will fill the gap left by the loss of the space shuttle, which will save billions.

      Still kind of harshly ironic that communists built the best spacecraft.

      Report Post » cognitivedissonance  
    • snowleopard3200 {mix art}
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 12:02pm

      @The Blazers

      This is one time I have to agree that the ‘Blame Obama’ part is wrong here, the fact is the shuttle system indeed is old, and of antiquitated technologies. The matter of having replacements for them should have been started some decade or 15 years ago when they realized eventually the need would happen down the road.

      Even a handful of vehicles prepared would have been of usage to keeping more than one country from having a transportation monopoly to the INS.

      Maybe it is past time to privatize part of the space industry, and see how they could make it more cost effective and truly competative while keeping safety as a high standard at the same time.

      http://www.artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • Polwatcher
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 12:21pm

      NASA is for outreach to Muslims anyway. The Ruskies are behind the curve.

      Report Post »  
    • RealityCheck
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 1:34pm

      Please, nothing to see here. I’m pretty sure the space station in question is the same one in which every trip to it left lots of trash. I’m suspecting the space station is now a floating garbage disposal.

      Report Post »  
    • The Third Archon
      Posted on December 13, 2010 at 3:49pm

      How can the Right complain about “too big” government and “too much government spending,” and then turn around and criticize Obama for not SPENDING MORE on NASA? That’s hypocritical. You know which department has the largest budget easily, by a magnitude of about 10? Defense–know which department, and pretty much the only department, the Right raises a fuss about cutting? Defense. Now, I’m not saying cutting DOD spending is necessary (although reform in how we give out D.O.D. contracts is a much needed money saving feature), but I am saying that we need to recognize that it’s hypocritical to categorically say taxes and government spending is bad, then cherry pick your favorites to keep. At least the Left is consistent in their philosophy–you should spend, and you should raise taxes to compensate. In fact, it was a DEMOCRATIC Senator, a Mr. Rockefeller of WV, who raised these EXACT concerns over a Russian monopoly on traffic to the ISS in the gap before any viable private alternatives developed to compete, MONTHS ago in the Congressional subcommittee hearings on the future of NASA (it was on C-SPAN 2).

      Report Post » The Third Archon  
    • TruthLover
      Posted on December 14, 2010 at 1:07am

      Yeah, well, we still went to the moon. They can’t take that away from us. I say opening space travel to private companies will grow the technology by leaps and bounds – we’ll be colonizing the moon in no time. Who cares about some russian space barge?

      Report Post » TruthLover  
    • staythecourse
      Posted on December 14, 2010 at 3:54am

      I’ve been saying this for a year. It does not make any sense. we have also given them information regarding our energy grid system. This administration has betrayed our country.

      Interestingly the arrangement that was originally worked out for the space station was that Russia would always have a staff of five on the space station at any given time. We got one…and I don’t think that is/was one all the time. We are fools. Also, while Gore is busy damning the US for climate change, the Russian scientists because they are looking at the world of outer space is actually seeing that so called “climate change” is really related to issues/ cycles related to the sun.

      The Start treaty should not be ratified. Russia is a sleeping giant about ready to wake up again. Do not be fooled.

      Report Post »  
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