Re: Alternatives to Shuttle Logistics missions

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 23:33:05 GMT, "Blurrt" <nathansr@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>US has received approval to purchase Soyuz flights from Russia so purchasing
>from other nations should not be a problem as long as it is a short term
>requirement. Preference should go to a commercial provider once they come
>online.

"Should not" and "will not" are likely to be very different
propositions. Russia is not Europe (at least, not in this case).
The US does not see Russia as an economic threat. Congress is not
going to allow NASA to send cash to EADS. They have enough trouble
just letting Lockheed sell European helicopters here.

>> >Similarly, Progress vehicle production could be ramped up to allow
>> >additional flights in 2007, maybe even 2006.
>>
>> It is unclear Russa can ramp up Progress (and Soyuz) flights that
>> quickly. They've never achieved more than 6 per year, and that was way
>> back in 1980.

>Hmm... I suspect that money is one of the main issues here.

Nope. Money was no object in the glory days (or at least, it flowed
much more freely then). Russia still didn't launch that many.

>Any business can
>respond to a market need provided the money is there. An additional 2
>flights per year given a 2 year lead time should be possible.

Maybe.

>I just think that the alternatives that are actually in place should be
>utilised until the US has it's own solution.

The best one is the Space Shuttle.

>And NASA can't afford the number of flights it has on the books.

Yes it can. All it needs to do is delay CEV a year or two and perhaps
push back Shuttle retirement a year (which was a political decision
that can be aborted by politicians whenever they please.)

Brian
.

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