Taking Care of the GAP, Russian Style

Xenophobic, anti-Russian comments in 3...2...1

NASA has signed a $306 million modification

Not a bad price for PEACE and Team work.

Good steps on exploration, we need everyone involved to create the next step. We live on another planet and We cannot come back to Earth, however have a drink with us. Pizza is OK in the control room!

That's $306 million that would have been better spent on SpaceX.....

Look on the bright side. When U.S. astronauts finally fly on Orion in 2015, it will feel absolutely spacious in comparison and will probably impart less severe reentry/landing forces than Soyuz. Current astronauts used to the shuttle will have the toughest transition to make.

Release says

"...Space station crew members will launch on four Soyuz vehicles: two in spring 2012 and two in fall 2012. Their landings are scheduled for fall 2012 and spring 2013, respectively. The contract modification also provides for crew post-flight rehabilitation, medical exams and services..."

So this is the price for four seats (always a Russian pilot on Soyuz unless that has now changed) right? Seems like that makes it $76.6M per seat, instead of the approx $51M stated by Scolese to Senate last week.

So this is the price for four seats (always a Russian pilot on Soyuz unless that has now changed) right? Seems like that makes it $76.6M per seat, instead of the approx $51M stated by Scolese to Senate last week.

6 x $51M = $306M

2 seats on two flights and 1 seat on two flights equals 6 seats. Which suggests two NASA astronauts plus one Russian cosmonaut half the time and two Russian cosmonauts plus one NASA astronaut the other half of the time.

This is a very sensible move on NASA's part. Given that the aboslute earliest that Orion could possibly reach IOC (and this is assuming it flies on an EELV) is late 2013 and that I double that COTS-D could be at FOC any earlier, NASA has taken the necessary steps to secure ISS access for its crews.

There's nothing else really to see here. However, the debate is still open as to what is the quickest way to move back from buying seats from an international partner to indigenous manned launching.

@ Bill White

FWIW, the other possible crew configuration for Soyuz flights with only one US crewmember would be one Russian, one US and one European or Japanese astronaut.

@Gary Miles
Nope, just anti-outsourcing American jobs overseas!!

@Cecil Trotter
That's $306 million better spent on Shuttle extension & KSC workforce retention!

There are thoughts about scenarios that come to mind affecting these flights in the period from 2011 to 2015.

Should the economy in Russia be stable, and should a desire to draw foreign investment be strong, then these factors may weigh against militarism that might cause an international incident. Georgia was such an example.

On the other hand, should Russia feel it is in a corner, or that it absolutely must act militarily to protect some interests and worry about consequences later (like Russian enclaves, or antagonistic governments on their border), then these flights will quickly become a headline making political issue. As the US and Europe constantly maneuver to secure oil in former eastern block countries then Russia could feel threatened.

Griffin once observed the Station is by design made to need the continuous technical support of both the US and Russia.

This will be a most interesting five years!

Bill White, just so happens that ESA introduced 6 new astronauts a little while back. So it may only have one Russian per flight rather than two. I don't know the status of ESA and how much they'll pay to send them up but it is an option.