NASA orders FOUR Russian Spacecrafts

[Sergi Manstov]

Breaking news here in Russia.

Two Soyuz and Two Progress supply ships on order from NASA, agreed to by Energia.

More to follow as I get quotes and any more details.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?id=4011

[Chris Bergin]

Oh crap, now this adds interest to the PCRB.

[nacnud]

W00T!

Great news , thanks. As a side note does anybody know how many man days on orbit does a progress flight provide?

[FransonUK]

This does not sound like great news for the STS program, but good news for the CEV, if I'm assuming this right. Maybe Kraisee's accelerated plan is going to happen after all.

[nacnud]

Seems like I'm out of tune here, what's bad about this?

[FransonUK]

It sounds like there could be a serious move to a very early retirement of the Shuttle. Maybe I'm assuming too much?

[Andy L]

Maybe, but it's also great news that NASA won't find itself without any means of manned space flight during the gap between STS and CEV. It could also be simply for those two years between to two programs. It's all good.

[nacnud]

Maybe, but I think its a contigency plan to keep US astronauts on the ISS. 

[Chris Bergin]

Maybe, but given the comments that refer to the Shuttle, I think this isn't sounding all that great for the STS or the ISS. Again, where the chips will fall will speak more on this. Overall it's good the US and Russians are doing deals on extra capability.

[Sergi Manstov]

I have more comments and have added them to the story on the above link.

[Chris Bergin]

He also spoke about the Kliper, but I won't add those, you can see them here.

"There are several hundred millionaires in the world who are fond of extreme tourism and would like to fly to space on the Kliper," Sevastyanov said.

"Today 1.5 years is needed to train an astronaut for a Soyuz flight, but it will take only three months to prepare an unprofessional passenger for a Kliper flight."

[Chris Bergin]

The Russians always tend to be exact on the number of flights, and he's saying 17 there. Again, of interest on the PCRB. Great work Sergi.

[Sergi Manstov]

Yes, the Kliper quotes can wait for another story, I agree.

[nacnud]

The 3 months for training an 'tourist' Kliper passenger could be great and not just for tourist but for scientist, and payload specialists as well.

[Rocket Ronnie]

nacnud - 11/11/2005  6:49 AM

The 3 months for training an 'tourist' Kliper passenger could be great and not just for tourist but for scientist, and payload specialists as well.

Sure is.

This is all very good news! Sounds like Griffin has a plan and he's not wasting any time.

[To The Stars]

A statement from NASA on this would go a long way to specifics. That's what we need now as to confirm the purpose of this deal.

[Flightstar]

Well this figures.

[Bruce H]

One, maybe two would have been a good reasoning for back up, but four sounds a lot like the Shuttle fleet is on the way to retirement.

[gladiator1332]

Well which Shuttle flights can really count on actually happening. I'm sure we will see STS-121. I wouldn't be surprised if all goes well with RTF 2, (i e no foam) we will hear an announcement that this is the finale of the STS program or, that there are only going to be 3 or 4 more missions.
I don't see the Hubble mission happening. If the STS is retired, how can it be sent to Hubble if it is too unsafe to even go to the ISS.

[Dobbins]

Let's not try to read more into this than the sparse facts in the story shows. NASA asked for an easing of the INA months ago, two Soyuz and two Progress capsules is hardly a sign that the entire 19 flight manifest is being dumped. The closest thing to any reduction is the mention of 17 STS flights which could be a misunderstanding.

Dr. Griffin recently stated that completing the ISS and servicing the Hubble was a high priority for NASA. I have no reason to think he was stupid enough to lie to Congress. It will take a lot more than an order of 4 Russian capsules that was likely in the planning for months to convince me that there have been sudden major changes in NASA's plans in the last two weeks.