NASA Reverses The Tables on Russia

Time running out for space station deal, MSNBC

“Yet another NASA source privately advised that the current flap was a part of the “hardball negotiations” but he revealed that NASA negotiators were pulling some hitherto-unrecognized aces out of their sleeves. This person, who requested his name not be divulged, said that the precipitating event was not next April’s Soyuz mission, but a seat aboard the STS-121 shuttle flight now slated to follow the first shuttle mission in May. “In response to Russia announcing they will charge the U.S. for Soyuz seats after 2005,” the source explained in an e-mail, “NASA is charging Russia for their nationals to ride on the shuttle.”