Breaking The Soyuz Habit

NASA: Pay the Americans now … or pay the Russians later, MSNBC
“If NASA can’t provide as much support for U.S. spaceship-builders as it’s hoping for, it’ll have to keep paying the Russians $450 million for every year of delay, the space agency’s No. 2 official said today. NASA’s deputy administrator, Lori Garver, laid out that “pay now or pay later” message at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces, N.M.”
Back space taxis or pay more for Russian rides, Reuters
“The Obama Administration is requesting $850 million for the [commercial] program for the fiscal year that began Oct 1. Bills pending in the House and Senate cut that to $312 million and $500 million, respectively. Without full funding in 2012, the United States’ ability to stop buying rides from Russia in 2016 is at risk, NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver said at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight, under way in Las Cruces, New Mexico, this week.”
NASA may extend Russian contract to fly to space station, Orlando Sentinel
“Top NASA officials are quietly working to extend a contract with Moscow that would continue using Russian rockets to fly U.S. astronauts into space until 2016 and beyond — a move that underscores how much the U.S. now relies on its former Cold War adversary. Already, NASA is committed to pay Russia $1.5 billion during the next five years to transport its astronauts to and from the International Space Station, a necessary arrangement because the U.S. no longer flies a human-rated spacecraft since NASA retired the space shuttle last summer.”