Russia Can Help NASA Replace Shuttles – Space Agency Official

Excerpt from report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Moscow, 26 July: The Russian Federal Space Agency [FSA] has offered NASA “the capabilities and achievements” of the Russian industry for the creation of an alternative to the Shuttles, which will soon be consigned to history, deputy head of FSA Nikolay Moiseyev said in an interview posted on the its website. [Passage omitted.]

Noting that the FSA is aware if the US plans to end the operation of the Space Shuttle project in 2010, Moiseyev added that the Russian space agency is also aware “that another project should replace this type of spacecraft”. For our part, he said, “we have offered NASA the capabilities and achievements of the Russian industry in this respect. The question undoubtedly is still open at this stage.”

[Passage omitted.]