NASA pushes for U.S.-run 'taxi' to space station

WASHINGTON Russia's annexation of Crimea may have put the world economy on edge, but for the U.S. rocket industry, at least, the standoff over Ukraine hasn't been all bad.

Since the showdown began, NASA officials, along with industry groups and politicians such as U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, have renewed calls to speed up the creation of a U.S.-run "taxi service" to the International Space Station.

The goal is to free NASA from having to pay Russia to fly U.S. astronauts to the outpost. The service is costing NASA about $1.7 billion from 2012 to 2017.

In a Tuesday blog post, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden blamed Congress for not giving NASA enough money to fund the taxi service, which would pay U.S. rocket companies to transport NASA astronauts to the station.

"Later today [Tuesday], NASA astronaut Steve Swanson will lift off towards the International Space Station, not from the Space Coast of Florida or some other American spaceport, but from Kazakhstan on a Russian spacecraft," Bolden wrote. "And unfortunately, the plan put forward by the Obama Administration to address this situation has been stymied by some in Congress."

After a successful launch, Swanson and his Russian crew mates were supposed to reach the station Tuesday, but trouble with thrusters on their Soyuz spacecraft has delayed the rendezvous until Thursday.

In making his case, Bolden did not suggest that the U.S.-Russia partnership in space was about to splinter because of Russia's annexation of Crimea, a former Ukrainian territory.

But he argued that if Congress had fully funded NASA's taxi service, the agency would have the option to pay U.S. companies, such as Boeing and SpaceX, for these flights much sooner instead of relying on Russia. NASA has paid Russia to transport its astronauts since the U.S. retired the space shuttle in 2011.

"Recognizing that this was unacceptable, President Obama has requested in NASA's budget more than $800 million each of the past five years to incentivize the American aerospace industry to build the spacecraft needed to launch our astronauts from American soil," Bolden wrote.

"Had this plan been fully funded, we would have returned American human spaceflight launches and the jobs they support back to the United States next year."

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NASA pushes for U.S.-run 'taxi' to space station