NASA did not explain the letter about the life of the contract with Roscosmos

NASA did not respond to a request to comment on the message about the fact that it is discussing with Roscosmos, the possibility of prolongation of the contract On the delivery of American astronauts on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International space station (ISS).
"in this case, we would prefer to refrain from commenting," he told the news Agency in response to the request, the press service of the space Agency of the United States.
as possible causes of prolongation of the contract referred to a recent crash of an American rocket, the Falcon 9 launch of Dragon cargo vehicle to the ISS. The same media will be used by the private firm SpaceX with the launch of its manned spacecraft that is being developed on the basis of a " truck ". The accident questioned SpaceX plans to build and test a vehicle by 2017. NASA has also no certainty that this deadline will be made second private American ship for missions to the orbiting complex. Its creation involved the Boeing Company. So, Space the Ministry of the United States will continue to be forced to use the services of the Russian space Agency to deliver its astronauts to the ISS. The current agreement between them will last until 2017, and it is possible that it will be prolonged for at least another year, and not excluded, and more. According to local media reports, currently one seat in the cockpit of the "Union" cost NASA approximately 76 million dollars. U.S. astronauts began flying to the station on the Russian ships in 2012 after it was discontinued the operation of the Shuttle. The US has decided to continue the ISS program until at least 2014. About similar plans not too long ago said Space, the Ministry of Canada. The leadership of the Russian space Agency has also announced its intention to continue international cooperation on the ISS over the next 10 years. It is assumed that the same is done by other participants of the project - the European Space Agency and Japan. In the past year because of the situation around Ukraine, the United States has ceased all cooperation with Russia in the space field with the exception of the ISS project. American Experts believe that the station on which the NASA budget each year spent more than $ 3 billion, is a unique platform for research, among them biomedical, observations and experiments that will assist you to prepare a manned mission to Mars. Space Ministry, the United States has hopes to build a journey to the Red planet early in the second half of the 2030s.


sections: Politics