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A Russian space official said his country will be able to develop the International Space Station even if U.S. participation is withdrawn. "If something happens and the (United States) pulls out of the program, we will be ready," said Alexander Medvedchikov, the deputy head of Roskosmos, the Russian space agency, as quoted by the RIA news agency. Russia could develop the station with the help of the new Kliper manned shuttle spacecraft, which is being created now, Medvedchikov said during an Internet briefing. Kliper was proposed in 2004 by the Russian Energia Corp. and was designed to replace the Soyuz. The United States does not intend to use its space shuttles forever, Medvedchikov said. "This is too expensive a pleasure, and these space shuttles are anyway quite old," he added. U.S. President Bush has said t! he United States would help complete construction of the station using the space shuttle fleet, but would retire the shuttle after that. All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
CSI Aims For Fair Share Of ISS Transport Route Within Two Years
Alexandria, VA, June 10, 2005In the wake of a General Accounting Office (GAO) report stating that NASA should re-evaluate whether ISS cargo, scheduled for delivery on the Space Shuttle prior to its retirement in 2010, could instead make use of alternative commercial services, Constellation Services International (CSI) applauds the GAO's conclusions and reiterates its commitment to provide such services in two years or less. |
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