"Russia ready for shuttle rescue mission if needed"

[don954]

"MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia could send up to three Soyuz rockets to the International Space Station (ISS) between now and February if an evacuation of the ISS crew become necessary due to problems with the US space shuttle Discovery, officials said. "

""We are ready to send three pilotable Soyuz capsules to the International Space Station by February 2006 should rescue of the Discovery crew be necessary," Nikolai Sevastyanov, head of the Energiya rocket construction firm that builds the Soyuz, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050728/sc_afp/usspaceshuttlerussia_050728172147;_ylt=Ar4R21pqPAX8nGjQLyN3f.EYAjMB;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

dam this is embarrassing..

:spank:

[Spinzonner]

1. We should be giving the Russians all the money they need

to continue a healthy and viable Soyuz-based fleet, given the precariousness of the shuttle program.

It's either that or risk having to write off the ISS.

[don954]

3. yes, and i think we should do a joint project to design a 7-12 person

Soyuz type space craft so the ISS can ramp up to full capacity. They know how to do it, all they need is a bit of R&D funding.

[0007]

2. Embarrassing as all hell!

[LisaL]

5. At least it's good to know that the astronauts will be able to get back

to Earth if needed.

[Delphinus]

6. I agree, lizzy.

It's scary to think they'd be stranded.

[don954]

10. yes, I concur. But it looks like they are going to do a crap shot

and have them ride the shuttle down. We don’t have to risk it, we could have them go to the ISS and have them ride the supply ships down over the next few months, and it would even give more time aboard the ISS for research. We could then send the shuttle down empty on auto-pilot. BUT, that would look bad to the politicians, so we are going to risk the lives of the astronauts on a very risky ride..

[SlavesandBulldozers]

4. we've come a long way since the 80's haven't we?

all the bullshit going on notwithstanding.

[don954]

7. a long ways down-hill

At least in the 80s the shuttles were state of the art national prestige projects. Now, they are the concrete boots holding NASA down in the 20th century. Even the Chinese manned capsule design is more advanced than our shuttles are.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

14. yeah.

i was talking more in terms of just Russian/US relations. i understand everything's gone downhill, but. . . dah well nevermind.

[Kelvin Mace]

8. I'm glad SOMEBODY'S space ships work.

[Kraklen]

9. Time to dust off the Buran?

[Emperor_Norton_II]

11. Wouldn't work for two reasons

1) There aren't any Energia super-heavy-lift boosters available to fly Buran, and

2) The hanger Buran was stored in collapsed in 2002. The result was teh suck:

[booksenkatz]

21. OR... time to don the +4 Ring of Fire Protection

;)
Love the sig line! Brings back many happy memories.

[Kraklen]

22. You're the first person to get it.

You win the complimentary gray dragon scale mail.

[henslee]

12. No, its not embarassing. You sound like Slim Pickens in Strangelove.

[Deja Q]

13. At least they're helping us. Would the US ever do the same for them?

[SlavesandBulldozers]

15. of course we would

Bush would do a half-hour speech on his greatness and generosity. there would be right-wing webpages joking about the shittiness of the Russian space-program where idiots would ask why we are always bailing everybody else out.

[RC]

16. Not with this band of war criminals in charge, they wouldn't

[htuttle]

17. Somebody at Baikonur really enjoyed reading that statement

Rumors that the Mir was partly made of wood notwithstanding, Russia seems to have followed a somewhat more practical course in space than we have over the years.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

18. I don't think Bushco will let that happen... they would rather

have more dead heros than lose face like this.

[Skip Intro]

20. That's what I was trying to say. nt

[Skip Intro]

19. Don't assume bush would take them up on it, even if needed

Not sure the astronauts' lives would be worth more to him than not to be seen as needing help. He think's he's got some superman image to live up to, and what's a few lives anyway?

Besides, he does know how to play a tragedy.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

23. Burn.

[Dem2theMax]

24. According to the NASA news conference this afternoon,

the shuttles are NOT grounded, Atlantis is ready if they need to rescue the crew, and they have seen nothing to suggest that this will even happen. As it stands now, according to NASA, all is fine, they are checking everything on Discovery, and it looks like she will be coming home with her crew as planned. Although they are going to try to squeak in an extra day of flight so they can do more work while at the space station.

[Robeson]

25. Not surprising.

[flaminbats]

26. wasting more money on the Shuttle is a huge mistake..

we could do so much more by investing money on unmanned probes to other planets, developing a Soyuz-like replacement for the Shuttle, and relying on the Titan 4 and Energia to do the heavy lifting of the future. Imagine what would happen if we sent men to Mars and they unknowingly brought some microbes back to Earth.

If we made the public investments in healthcare and deficit reduction as on technology for the space program and military..think of how much better our world could be!

[tabasco]

27. Thank you, Russia !

Space should be a place for peace and cooperation.

Bush wants to turn space into a war zone.