Russian Space Program Gets $52Bln Boost
Source: Moscow Times
As a tit-for-tat sanctions war vaporizes U.S.-Russian space cooperation, the Russian government has boosted the budget of its Federal Space Agency by 1.8 trillion rubles ($52 billion) to modernize and expand its existing infrastructure and capabilities by 2020.
The new program for Russian space activities through 2020 was quietly released on Tuesday, the same day that Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin issued a series of controversial statements painting the future of U.S.-Russian space cooperation in a bleak light.
According to Rogozin, Russia will not accept a NASA proposal to extend the life of the International Space Station, or ISS beyond 2020, and instead will be looking to other projects and partners. The new space policy, which pledges 1.8 trillion rubles toward modernization and development efforts throughout the Russian space industry, appears to be a step toward ensuring Russia is free to pursue its own interests in space after its ISS obligations are fulfilled in 2020.
Rogozin tweeted that Russia will discuss cooperative space projects with China at a summit meting in Beijing on May 19.
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Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/russian-space-program-gets-52bln-boost/500157.html
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)I would assume.
bananas
(27,509 posts)It started a couple of years ago, before the whole Ukraine thing blew up, back when everyone was still friends.
951-Riverside
(7,234 posts)DavidDvorkin
(19,479 posts)And no doubt the right wing/GOP will keep pointing that out. However, the action was pretty much unavoidable due to funding decisions made during the Bush administration.
bananas
(27,509 posts)Bush cancelled both ISS and the Space Shuttle to pay for his lunar program.
former9thward
(32,025 posts)John Glenn, the first and oldest astronaut to ever orbit the earth, on Monday joined other astronauts in pressing the Obama administration to preserve the U.S. space shuttle program.
In a statement, Glenn criticized President Obama's proposed termination of space shuttles and the back-to-the-moon Constellation program.
Obama has proposed the terminations because, he says, the U.S. can't afford the programs.
Houston-based Johnson Space Center, the hub for work on Constellation, stands to lose as many as 6,000 jobs with the program's end and the $9 billion already invested in the project. Texas lawmakers are vehemently opposing the termination plan.
http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2010/06/john_glenn_opposes_obamas_plan.html
bananas
(27,509 posts)That article gives a false impression.
Glenn and others wanted Obama to reverse Bush's decision, which Obama partially did.
former9thward
(32,025 posts)But he did not reverse anything. That is why we are in the situation we are in today with Russia.
bananas
(27,509 posts)Bush's decision was to cancel the ISS as soon as our international agreements ended in 2015.
In 2010, Obama extended it to 2020, four months ago he extended it to 2024 and left it open-ended, to 2030 and beyond:
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Obama also announced an extension of funding for International Space Station operations, 90% complete by mass[15] at the time of the speech but scheduled to be deorbited by as early as 2015 before Obama announced the extension, which will provide funding through 2020.
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April 15, 2010
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON SPACE EXPLORATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
John F. Kennedy Space Center
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So NASA, from the start, several months ago when I issued my budget, was one of the areas where we didnt just maintain a freeze but we actually increased funding by $6 billion.
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And we will extend the life of the International Space Station likely by more than five years, while actually using it for its intended purpose: conducting advanced research that can help improve the daily lives of people here on Earth, as well as testing and improving upon our capabilities in space. This includes technologies like more efficient life support systems that will help reduce the cost of future missions. And in order to reach the space station, we will work with a growing array of private companies competing to make getting to space easier and more affordable. (Applause.)
<snip>
NASA: International Space Station Operations Extended to 2024
by Nancy Atkinson on January 8, 2014
NASA announced today that the Obama administration has approved NASAs request for an extension of operations for the International Space Station for an additional four years to 2024. This means work on board the orbiting laboratory will continue at least for another decade.
<snip>
Gerstenmaier also sees the ISS as a proving ground for future human spaceflight plans to head out to deep space. NASA doesnt think of ISS and deep space human plans as separate, but as a combined strategy, he said.
A recent review of ISS modules and equipment ensured that the station could likely last until 2028, and Gerstenmaier said this new extension allows operations to be at least considered until nearly 2030.
Ten years from today is a far-reaching vision, he said. Our international partners are well aware of this extension and they were involved in hardware studies to see if station operations could extend. They will continue to evaluate their hardware and they all see this as a positive step in moving forward. This is truly an international endeavor and we all work together.
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former9thward
(32,025 posts)Sanctions are a two-way street. An extension is not much good if you can't get to it.
bananas
(27,509 posts)When Bush Cancelled the Space Shuttle
Stephen C. Smith
Monday, April 26, 2010
Back on March 2, I published an article titled, Why Bush Cancelled the Space Shuttle. It was in response to the false claims at the time that President Obama had cancelled the Space Shuttle program. The truth was that President Bush cancelled Shuttle on January 14, 2004.
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In the weeks following my last blog on Bush's speech, I've wondered if his proposal faced the same outrage and distortions now hurled at Obama's proposed FY 2011 NASA budget.
Two major criticisms of Obama's proposal have been (1) the loss of jobs in the Space Coast, and (2) the "gap" created after Shuttle's retirement in which the United States would have to rely on the Russians to send astronauts to the International Space Station.
My earlier blog documented that both complaints should have been directed six years ago to Bush's proposal, because that's where both decisions were made. So I decided to find out whether anyone actually complained all those years ago when these policy decisions were set into motion.
I went to the Central Brevard Library in Cocoa to read through microfilms of Florida Today published between January 12 and February 10, 2004 nearly a month after Bush's speech.
As I suspected, pretty much nobody complained about the "gap" even though it was there in plain sight nobody complained about relying on the Russians, and almost no one raised a concern about the job loss.
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former9thward
(32,025 posts)And do you acknowledge that Obama could have reversed the decision? Or is he some powerless CIC who is forced to carry on every Bush policy?
bananas
(27,509 posts)Commercial crew would be flying next year if Congress had fully funded it, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.
Keeping the shuttle flying would have reduced the budget for commercial crew even further.
Funding and effect on schedule
The first flight of the Commercial Crew program was planned to occur in 2015, but insufficient funding has caused delays.[10][11] NASA Administrator, Charles Bolden, has attributed the delays of the CCDev program to insufficient funding from Congress.[12] Michael López-Alegría, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, has also attributed the delays in the program to funding.[13]
For the 2011 budget, $500 million was requested for the CCDev program, but only $270 million was granted by Congress.[14] For the 2012 budget, $850 million was requested but Congress only approved a budget of $406 million, and as a result the first flight of Commercial Crew was delayed from 2016 to 2017.[11] For the 2013 budget, $830 million was requested but Congress approved of only $488 million.[15] For the 2014 budget, $821 million is being requested.[10]
Boeing CST-100 Space Taxi Maiden Test Flight to ISS Expected Early 2017 One on One Interview with Chris Ferguson, Last Shuttle Commander
by Ken Kremer on May 9, 2014
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL Boeing expects to launch the first unmanned test flight of their commercial CST-100 manned space taxi in early 2017, said Chris Ferguson, commander of NASAs final shuttle flight in an exclusive one-on-one interview with Universe Today for an inside look at Boeings space efforts. Ferguson is now spearheading Boeings human spaceflight capsule project as director of Crew and Mission Operations.
<snip>
The first manned test could happen by the end of summer 2017 with a two person crew, he said.
And we may go all the way to the space station.
Boeing is among a trio of American aerospace firms, including SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp, vying to restore Americas capability to fly humans to Earth orbit and the space station by late 2017, using seed money from NASAs Commercial Crew Program (CCP) in a public/private partnership. The next round of contracts will be awarded by NASA about late summer 2014.
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But the schedule depends entirely on NASA funding levels approved by Congress. And that vital funding has been rather short on supply. It has already caused significant delays to the start of the space taxi missions for all three companies contending for NASAs commercial crew contracts because of the significant slashes to the agencys CCP budget request, year after year.
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Originally, we would have flown the unmanned orbital test in the summer of 2015. The crewed test would have been at the end of 2015.
So both flights are now a full year and a half later. Ferguson confirmed.
For the presidents [CCP] funding requests for the past few years of roughly about $800 million, they [Congress] only approved about half. It was significantly less than the request.
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bananas
(27,509 posts)Let me be very candid, Bolden said. I am not baffled by opposition to anything that the President puts forward. Very blunt. Republicans dont like the President. They have stated very clearly that will oppose anything he puts forward, that they will not allow anything to go forward that gives him credit for anything, and I think thats very unfortunate. But thats politics.
bananas
(27,509 posts)That's a direct quote from his press conference:
President Bush Announces New Vision for Space Exploration Program
Press Release Source: White House
Posted Wednesday, January 14, 2004
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm honored to be with the men and women of NASA. I thank those of you who have come in person. I welcome those who are listening by video. This agency, and the dedicated professionals who serve it, have always reflected the finest values of our country -- daring, discipline, ingenuity, and unity in the pursuit of great goals.
<snip>
In 2010, the Space Shuttle -- after nearly 30 years of duty -- will be retired from service.
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bananas
(27,509 posts)A conversation with John Glenn
02/19/2012 12:37 PM Filed in: Space News
By WILLIAM HARWOOD
CBS News
<snip>
I disagreed strongly, and still do, with George Bush's decision to (retire the shuttle). ... If they want to establish a base on the moon and pay for it, fine. But what he proposed, and directed NASA to do, is he directed NASA to plan to land on the moon and go on to Mars, but no addition in the budget. To pay for it, you're doing it out of the existing budget, which meant that he also cancelled the shuttles at the end of 2010 and wanted to cancel the space station. I think that was just ridiculous. Because we've now spent $100 billion building the space station, it's the most unique laboratory humans have ever conceived of. And during this time period, we haven't had our own transportation back and forth to it, so we've not been able to maximize the research return off what I call micro exploration, which is the laboratory type stuff, or the human body type exploration you can do up there.
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bananas
(27,509 posts)Astronauts revisit the shuttle debate
Thursday Apr 19, 2012 5:36 PM
<snip>
"The unfortunate decision eight and a half years ago to terminate the shuttle program, in my opinion, prematurely grounded Discovery and delayed our research," retired senator-astronaut John Glenn said during today's handover ceremony at the museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.
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former9thward
(32,025 posts)skydive forever
(445 posts)My GF and I worked on the program for over 58 years combined, (her 32, and me 26 years) I am 100% positive Bush cancelled the program.
salib
(2,116 posts)bananas
(27,509 posts)go west young man
(4,856 posts)Gore1FL
(21,132 posts)We'll get exactly that, and beat both of them by at least 2 years.
In a weird way, it might trigger one of the best hopes for humanity's future. It's stupid that it would take such a trigger, but I'd welcome it as a side effect of the existing reality.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)and the future and safekeeping of mankind and the planet. It shows promise....unlike the MIC and the surveillance state.
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)The US will spend approximately twice that by 2020 and it's likely NASA's going to get a boost in the next budget thanks to Russia's shenanigans. We may in fact be arriving at Mars sooner than we thought.
Bosonic
(3,746 posts)Last edited Fri May 16, 2014, 09:18 AM - Edit history (1)
A Russian Proton rocket with advanced satellite on board crashed outside of Kazakhstan's territory after lift-off, RIA Novosti cited a source as saying.
There are so far no reports of damage or casualties.
All other launches of Proton-type rockets will be halted at Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan until the reason for the crash is determined, a source told RIA Novosti.
There was an emergency engines shutdown on the 540th second following the launch, the Russian Federal Space Agency said, as quoted by Itar-Tass.
http://rt.com/news/159304-proton-rocket-crashed-kazakhstan/
quadrature
(2,049 posts)good gig if you can get it...
for the people on the ground,
not so much
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)as one has in response to your article. Second, for all the talk from those saying that the US is starting another "cold war", certainly the Russians were quick to throw money into the fire build their space program. I mean none of that could be defense could it?
Nitram
(22,822 posts)Been there, done that.
I think a new space race will do us some good. Hopefully this gets congress to give NASA a budget that's worth a damn.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)Investment in non-lethal science is beneficial.