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NASA Rejects Russian Proposal for Longer Space-Station Visit

Posted on: Wednesday, 21 April 2004, 06:00 CDT

NASA rejects Russian proposal for longer space-station visit

New York Times

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Washington -- NASA has turned down Russia's request to extend the stay of the next International Space Station crew to a full year from six months but said it is open to the idea for later missions.

"We believe the timing is not appropriate, in part because the station is currently in a reduced operational state," NASA said Tuesday, adding that longer stays eventually will be needed to support the plan that President Bush announced in January to send astronauts back to the moon and later to Mars.

Extending the tour for the next mission, which is to begin in October, would have freed two or three seats on Russian Soyuz flights to the station next year, allowing them to be sold to tourists or foreign astronauts.

Flights supplement coffers

These commercial flights, which each bring in $15 million to $20 million, supplement the Russian Space Agency's inadequate government financing.

The Russian program has been further strained since the American space shuttle fleet has been grounded after the Columbia disaster in February 2003, leaving Russian spacecraft as the only option for resupplying the station with crews and supplies.

Allard Beutel, a NASA spokesman, said agency officials do not think the station is ready for yearlong stays.

Among the questions that have to be resolved, he said, are having adequate supplies aboard and countering the psychological and physical effects of such missions.

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