NASA Has No Plans To Buy More Soyuz Seats (spaceflightnow.com)

schwit1 writes: Both Boeing and SpaceX better get their manned capsules working by 2019, because NASA at this point has no plans to buy more seats on Russian Soyuz capsules after the present contract runs out. Spaceflight Now reports: "Even as the commercial crew schedules move later into 2018, NASA officials say they are not considering extending the contract with Roscosmos -- the Russian space agency -- for more launches in 2019. The last Soyuz launch seats reserved for U.S. astronauts are at the end of 2018. It takes more than two years to procure components and assemble new Soyuz capsules, so Russia needed to receive new Soyuz orders from NASA by some time this fall to ensure the spacecraft would be ready for liftoff in early 2019." The second paragraph above notes that even if NASA decided it needed more Soyuz launches, it is probably too late to buy them and have them available by 2019. "A Soyuz is a complicated vehicle, and a complicated vehicle doesn't come into existence in a matter of days," said Kirk Shireman, NASA's space station program manager. "It takes over two years to build a Soyuz, so yes, at some point in time, building a new Soyuz vehicle is not an option. We're working with our Russian counterparts on exactly when that is. We have not crossed that date yet, but I believe the date is in sight. It will be this calendar year when we will cross the point where we won't be able to build a Soyuz in time for when our last seats that we've already procured expire," Shireman said.

Comments

Re: Won't matter anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

This. And Europe WILL do its part.

Make Space Great Again

[ChadSmith4920]

When it comes to outer space TRUMP Space will be FANTASTIC!!

Re:Won't matter anyway.

[aristotle-dude]

Far too many Democrats are spineless and will vote for Hillary regardless what comes to light. If you are a democrat with principles and you cannot bring yourself to reevaluate what party you belong to and vote Trump then the least you could do is not vote at all or vote for a third party.

As a Canadian, I am sad to see the joker the millennials and burned out hippies voted in as PM. The guy is clueless and arrogant. He has no respect for the working class and thinks it is OK to spend taxpayer money on lavish parties. The PM is NOT the head of state. Our head of state is the queen and her representative on the federal level is the governor general. Justin Trudeau thinks he was elected "KING" with less than 40 percent of the vote.

I think Justin was elected because seniors were disenfranchised by staff at care homes, by elections canada volunteers and I also believe many blindly voted on party lines instead of looking at leadership qualities. They should have not voted if they knew about the rigging of local riding candidate selections by Trudeau and other undemocratic moves made by the Liberals prior to the elections. The mainstream media also did not cover the destruction of election signs by NDP and Liberal supporters, the nazi graffiti painted on Conservative party campaign offices of local candidates as well as sexist threats toward female candidates. The fact is that the Conservative party fielded more women as candidates and people from more cultural backgrounds than the Liberals but the mainstream media was biased against the ruling party of the time.