Vladimir Putin, center, and Dmitry Rogozin, far right, tour Russia's new Vostochny Cosmodrome in October, 2015. (credit: Kremlin)
Back in 2014, as tensions between the United States and Russia rose to a crescendo, that country's chief space minister mocked NASA and the US government for its reliance on Russia to get US astronauts to the International Space Station. If the US didn't like Russia's policies and was going to persist in economic sanctions, deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin tweeted, perhaps they would like to use a trampoline to get to space?
Publicly, neither NASA nor the US government responded. They continued working with Russia which, despite some of the more heated rhetoric, has remained a steady partner with the International Space Station. In response, NASA and Congress also stepped up funding for commercial crew efforts in the United States, which should allow Boeing and SpaceX to begin carrying astronauts into space from US soil by late 2017 or 2018.
But beyond astronaut transport, the US government is reliant upon Russia in another way in space—until last year the primary means by which national security payloads were launched into space was via the Atlas V rocket. This reliable launch vehicle is powered by RD-180 engines that United Launch Alliance purchases from Russia, and after that country's actions in Ukraine, Congress called upon the American company to end its reliance upon the Russian engine by 2022. This charge has been led by US Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
No comments:
Post a Comment