detonate.net - The Space Station May Be In Trouble!

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Manned missions to the international space station may have to be suspended because Russia cannot afford to build new craft to carry crews there, a Russian space official said Thursday.

"The situation is desperate," Valery Ryumin, director of the Russian section of the ISS, said by telephone. Ryumin, also a top designer for rocket-builder Energiya -- which supplies the Soyuz craft -- said the company had no money beyond next year to build the vehicles. "It takes two years to build the spaceship. Unless we place an order today, we will have nothing to fly on in 2004," he said. A key member of the 16-nation space station program, Russia has undertaken to provide Soyuz capsules. Designed to carry three people, they remain docked to the orbiting outpost for months at a time and can be used for emergency rescues. It is intended for use on a single mission. Ryumin said that without Soyuz, U.S. crews would not be able to use the space station as their shuttle craft were designed to remain at the station for a maximum of three weeks. The U.S. program also had no alternative provision for rescue missions. "That is why the issue has been raised of suspending permanent manned missions at the station," he said. Ryumin said he had sent a letter to his U.S. counterpart explaining Russia's concerns. He suggested that the publicity given to Russia's financial difficulties might prompt the government to stump up more funds. "Perhaps the government will choose to avoid an international scandal," he said. "But I will tell you frankly that I have almost given up hope." Ed/there are two Soyuz capsules in this rendition, they are the two green cylinders with 2 white bands each at top center.