Russian Ship Resupplies Space Station

nuke-alwin writes "The Kansas City Star is reporting that a Russian unmanned space ship has brought fresh supplies to the International Space Station. Since the grounding of the space shuttle fleet the ISS depends on the Russians to get supplies. The crew have also received satellite telephones for the first time."

Comments

Re:Junk the Shuttle -- and ISS while you're at it.

[njchick]

What's the point in scrapping the ISS and building another one in a higher orbit? Wouldn't in be better to boost the ISS into a higher orbit once we have the capability to get people there.

Actually, I remember reading that most space junk is located on the orbits just above the ISS, so boosting it could increase the risk of debris penetration.

It's also worth noting that the heavy lift rockets are not man-rated. Titan is quite unreliable, and the heavy versions of Atlas and Boeing are yet to fly. They will consist of 3 booster cores. If one of the 3 fails, the mission fails. The spacecraft would need to be able to separate and land safely if it happens.

It's a major limitation - either the spacecraft has wings or it cannot carry heavy payloads, so that parachutes or rockets could slow it down for an emergency landing.