Category Archives: Space Station

NASA and JAXA ISS Astronauts Congratulate #39;Gravity #39; on Academy Awards
Aboard the International Space Station, NASA Astronauts Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio and JAXA Astronaut Koichi Wakata congratulate the filmmakers and ac...

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NASA and JAXA ISS Astronauts Congratulate 'Gravity' on Academy Awards - Video

Game Night #1 Part 2: Space Station

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Game Night #1 Part 2: Space Station - Video

Putin #39;s hole card: no more rides to the Space Station

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Putin's hole card: no more rides to the Space Station - Video

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy (left), along with Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov (center) and Alexander Misurkin (right), on the International Space Station, Sept. 10, 2013. NASA

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said Tuesday that cooperation with Russia on the International Space Station has not been disrupted by rising diplomatic tensions over the crisis in Ukraine.

"Right now, everything is normal in our relationship with the Russians," Bolden said.

"I think people lose track of the fact that we have occupied the International Space Station now for 13 consecutive years uninterrupted, and that has been through multiple international crises," he said. "I don't think it's an insignificant fact that we are starting to see a number of people with the idea that the International Space Station be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. It's not trivial."

Bolden urged Congress to fully fund development of commercial manned spacecraft to end U.S. reliance on Russia to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. He said the Obama administration's $17.5 billion budget request for NASA in fiscal 2015 will maintain American leadership on the high frontier.

Since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, and in the absence of earlier funding to develop a follow-on manned spacecraft, NASA has been dependent on the the Russians to launch crews to the space station aboard three-seat Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft.

The International Space Station

As part of a new space policy implemented by the Obama administration in 2010-11, NASA is overseeing a competition to develop a commercial American manned spacecraft to restore independent access to space.

The administration asked for $850 million for commercial manned spaceflight in its fiscal 2012 budget request, but Congress approved just $397 million, a cut that pushed the first NASA flight to the station back one year to 2017.

The administration requested $830 million in its fiscal 2013 budget. Early debate in the House called for limiting the scope of the contract to a single company but a compromise eventually was reached that would provide $525 million. NASA received $696 million for commercial crew operations in fiscal 2014.

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NASA: Our relationship with Russia remains normal despite Ukraine crisis

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Expedition 38 crew members proudly sport their national flags in this March 2014 picture from the International Space Station. Pictured (clockwise from top center) are Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, commander; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy, NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, all flight engineers. Credit: NASA

Astronauts are expected to leave the International Space Station on schedule next week, and training continues on the ground, despite a crisis in Ukraine that is disrupting American and Russian relations, NASAs administrator said on Tuesday (March 4).

Russian troops moved into the Crimea region of Ukraine last week, triggering condemnation from the United States and other International Space Station partners. At least one ISS participant, Canada, has removed its ambassador from Moscow.

Everything is nominal right now in our relationship with the Russians. We continue to monitor the situation, said NASA administrator Charles Bolden in a conference call with reporters.

The safety of our crews and our assets that has not changed. Safety is the No. 1 of NASAs core values, so we are constantly doing contingency planning on the International Space Station for emergencies that might arise, Bolden added, citing the emergency ammonia pump replacement in December as one such example.

Those are the kinds of things we are always planning for, and in terms of the situation on the ground, we will go into contingency planning for that as the situation dictates. But right now, we dont see any reason to do so, he said.

Structure arms for Soyuz TMA-11M (the launching vehicle for Expedition 38) raise into place in this long-exposure photograph taken in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The Russian Soyuz is currently the only way that NASA can bring humans to the space station, although the agency is developing a commercial crew program to start lifting off astronauts from American soil again in 2017. The Soyuz missions depart and return from Kazakhstan under an agreement Russia has with the former Soviet Union republic.

Expedition 38 (which includes RussiasOleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy, and NASAs Michael Hopkins) is expected to depart the space station March 10. Expedition 39 is scheduled to head to the ISS March 25.

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BUDGET 2015: Ukraine Crisis Not Disrupting Russian Soyuz Flights, NASA Admin Says

The political crisis in Crimea comes at a touchy time in the joint Russian-U.S. space program. Two cosmonauts, one of them from Crimea, and an American astronaut are scheduled to touch down on Russian soil on March 10 after months aboard the International Space Station.

One American and two cosmonauts are headed back into space in a few weeks. In a teleconference with reporters Tuesday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said there are no problems. "Everything is nominal right now in our relationship with the Russians, " he said.

But since the retirement of the American space shuttle program, the U.S. relies entirely on Russia for human transport to and from the International Space Station and pays $70 million for every astronaut trip.

House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) said in a statement on Tuesday, that the U.S. needs to back away from the arrangement with Russia's space program.

"With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, America currently has no domestic capability to transport our astronauts to and from the International Space Station," The statement reads. "Our international space partnerships, including our partnership with Russia, are strong and have historically endured political division. But after decades of leadership in space, it is unacceptable for America to pay the Russians $70 million per seat for each of our astronauts to hitch a ride to space. NASA needs to develop a vehicle to launch American astronauts onboard American rockets from American soil. Leadership in space exploration is a goal worthy of a great nation."

Former astronaut Tom Jones says that NASA is intent on keeping ISS missions from becoming a political football.He points to the Apollo/Soyuz missions of the mid-70s, during the height of the Cold War, as evidence that the two countries cooperated in a spirit of detente.

Today, Jones says, the two space partners are more inter-dependent than ever. "What they lack for example, is all the control software that we use to point, maneuver and control the space station," he says. "So, they would not be wise to deny us access, because they would be denying themselves access to all the utilities and supplies they need for the space station."

Russians have an agreement with the U.S. that they are allowed to keep a gun in their possession on space missions.

Russian spacecraft have traditionally touched down on land. In the early space days, some cosmonauts occasionally had to fend off wolves while they awaited rescue crews.

Doug McKelway joined Fox News Channel (FNC) in November 2010 and serves as a Washington-based correspondent.

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Crimea crisis comes at touchy time for US-Russia space program

Space Station #5 - Montrose Lesson
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Space to Ground - What #39;s happening aboard the International Space Station 02/28/14
NASA #39;s Space to Ground is your weekly update on what #39;s happening aboard the International Space Station. Got a question or comment? Use #spacetoground to tal...

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Space to Ground - What's happening aboard the International Space Station 02/28/14 - Video

International Space Station Crew Discusses Life in Space with Missouri Students
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 38 Flight Engineers Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio discussed life and research aboard the orbital labor...

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International Space Station Crew Discusses Life in Space with Missouri Students - Video

HOUSTON Thanks to its reliance on Russia, NASA is once again confronted with the nightmare of a diplomatic roadblock in a project originally made possible by diplomacy: the U.S.-Russian partnership in space exploration.

And if Russia's confrontation with Ukraine and the West turns into the worst diplomatic crisis of our generation, as feared, it could have equally profound and disturbing consequences for space exploration.

This month's comings and goings at the International Space Station highlight the interdependence of the U.S. and Russian space efforts: Next week, NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins is due to return from the space station aboard a Russian capsule, alongside two Russian cosmonauts. A couple of weeks after that, NASA's Steven Swanson is to ride another Russian Soyuz craft up to the station, again in the company of two Russians.

Under the current arrangement, NASA astronauts cannot get to and from the station without Russian help, due to the retirement of the space shuttle fleet. The ticket price for each astronaut is $70 million, payable to the Russians.

The United States and Russia are not just "joined at the hip" on the space station. Numerous other rocket projects rely on either Russian or Ukrainian space hardware and services. Even U.S. national security satellites are powered into orbit on an American rocket with a Russian-built rocket engine.

What if the Soyuz spacecraft suddenly became unavailable for use by American astronauts, contract or no contract? Would it be the end of U.S. human spaceflight? Would it kick off a new round of extortionary price-gouging, both fiscal and diplomatic?

Well, maybe not.

Moving away from co-dependence

Its cold comfort that the Russians rely on NASA almost as much as NASA relies on the Russians. If Russia monopolizes up-down transport, the United States essentially controls the only space destination: Russia's orbital hardware couldn't function without U.S. electrical power and communications services.

However reluctant the partners may be in such an awkward "space marriage," it has until now provided an astonishing degree of robustness and flexibility.

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Russia Crisis Raises Space Station Questions