http://www.space.com/news/russia_bush_040115.html
U.S. President George W. Bush's new plan to send men to the moon, Mars and beyond excited Russian space officials and designers, who voiced quick hopes Thursday for winning a lucrative share in the U.S. program and boosting the sagging status of Russia's space program. NASA has already sent its proposals concerning cooperation in moon and Mars missions to the Russian Aerospace Agency, said deputy chief Nikolai Moiseyev, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. Moiseyev did not give details of the U.S. proposals, but said that Russia has plentiful know-how to share. Bush's plan could be a chance for the beleaguered Russian space program to get much-needed cash and to revive its prestige. The Soviet Union sent the first satellite and first human into orbit, but the Russian space program fell on hard times after the 1991 Soviet collapse. The program gained new prominence when, after the suspension of the U.S. space shuttle program following the Columbia disaster, Russian Soyuz craft became the only way to send astronauts to and from the International Space Station. But severe funding problems persist. Despite the money shortage, its scientists have done a lot of new research on the future interplanetary missions, said space agency spokesman Vyacheslav Mikhailichenko. "Even though our space engineers lacked money to build new hardware, they have done a lot of prospective design work," Mikhailichenko told The Associated Press. "We have preserved and developed our scientific potential." Like other Russian space officials, Mikhailichenko held out hope that the United States will tap Russian know-how while building future spacecraft. "It would be unfeasible to do such work alone," he said. Mikhailichenko said Russia's giant Energiya booster rocket, with a payload of about 100 metric tons (110 tons), could be useful for moon and interplanetary missions. The Energiya program has been dormant in recent years due to the money crunch and the lack of suitable mission. Mikhailichenko said Energiya launching facilities have been preserved at Baikonur, Russia's launching base for manned space flights. Meanwhile, Russian space designers said they could quickly develop spacecraft for both moon and Mars missions if they have money. Roald Kremnev, a deputy head of NPO Lavochkin company which built the Soviet Lunokhod rover that traipsed across the moon in 1970, said it could build its successor in mere two or three years for just 600 million rubles (US$21 million), ITAR-Tass reported. Kremnev said that his company could make spacecraft capable of flying automatic missions to the moon, including robots capable of building temporary housing on the Moon. Another space designer, Leonid Gorshkov of the RKK Energiya company that builds Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, says it has designed a spacecraft which can carry a crew to Mars as early as 2014 for US$15 billion. Gorshkov told ITAR-Tass that the 70-metric ton (77-ton) spacecraft modeled on the Russian Zvezda module for the ISS could be assembled in orbit from components delivered by Proton booster rockets. Increased involvement with NASA could divert Russia from working with China's advancing manned space program. Russia has sold space technology to China and trained two Chinese air force pilots at the Star City cosmonaut training center outside Moscow. Meanwhile, Russian space officials have remained unperturbed about the U.S. plans to shift the emphasis from the space station to moon and interplanetary missions and retire its shuttle fleet at around 2010. Mikhail Sinelshchikov, the head of Russia's manned space program, told the Interfax news agency that the United States had pledged to fulfill all its obligations under the 16-nation project. "The program and plans are still valid, the commitments are the same for the international partners," Sinelshchikov said. Turning to future Mars missions, Russian designers are already thinking about the make-up of the crew. Gorshkov said that it would likely consist of four to six cosmonauts, but was hesitant about including women. "On the one hand, she may become an element of psychological imbalance on the male crew. On the other hand, women respond to emergencies better," Gorshkov told the ITAR-Tass. xponent Like I Said Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
