Vote Likely Locks In Soyuz Flights To ISS Until 2019
Come 2018, it's almost certain U.S. astronauts will still be riding Russian rockets to the International Space Station.
A vote by a key Senate panel Wednesday all but killed any chance Congress will fully finance NASA's space shuttle replacement program by 2017 and end the agency's reliance on Soyuz rockets for access to the space station.
That vote by the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that finances the space program approved $900 million for the shuttle replacement program, known as Commercial Crew, in fiscal 2016. That's nearly $350 million less than the $1.24 billion NASA requested to meet a launch target of late 2017.
Last week, the House approved a fiscal 2016 for NASA budget that would provide $1 billion for the Commercial Crew program. It's highly unlikely the two chambers will settle on a final number that comes close to matching NASA's request, further delaying a program that's already more than a year behind its original 2016 launch date.
Failing to meet NASA's full request "would guarantee we will continue to send millions of dollars a year to Moscow instead of investing that money in United States, creating jobs and once again launching Americans from U.S. soil," NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr., wrote on his blog last month.
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http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2015/06/10/vote-likely-locks-soyuz-flights-iss/71044396/
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