NASA Needs To Go To Priceline.com
Why Is NASA Caving to the Russians On ISS?, OpEd, Jim Oberg, Txchnologist
“With the retirement of the Space Shuttle Atlantis last week, American astronauts are now totally dependent on Russian vehicles for access to space. The question in front of us is how best to negotiate for fair compromises in the US-Russian space alliance. Some of NASA’s recent agreements are not encouraging. The US needs to realize that it holds some high cards. True, the Russians have, in the Soyuz, the only vehicle that can carry passengers. But the destination – the International Space Station, which is more than 80 percent funded by the U.S. – provides many critical space services without which getting into orbit is pretty pointless for the Russians. Chief among them is electrical power and space-to-Earth communications, most of which comes via American equipment.”