Having heard Koptev's reasoning, the premier "has agreed that this would be the optimal variant under the present conditions," the Rosaviakosmos official said in a phone interview Feb. 17. The official, who asked not to be named, said the federal cabinet is now set to formally consider Koptev's proposal.

Koptev first outlined his proposal during a Feb. 14 meeting with President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.  During their 1.5-hour conversation the president made no promises regarding either the rate of allocating funds or the provision of extra cash. However, he told Koptev to discuss the proposal with Kasyanov, according to the Rosaviakosmos official. In remarks shown on Russian television channels Putin also vowed that Russia and the United States will take "joint energetic steps" to keep the international space station running.

Russia initially had been obliged to launch three Progress spacecraft to the ISS in 2003. With the shuttles grounded, however, a fourth Progress will be needed this year to keep the ISS fully manned in the absence of shuttles. In 2004 Russia would also need to launch five or six Progress ships rather than three as previously planned.

It costs some $23 million to manufacture and launch one Progress-M and it normally takes 18 months to build one such ship from scratch.  Energia, of Korolev, presently has 12 such spacecraft in the works, according to Koptev.

Of these 12 ships, most are in an embryonic state, however, according to the Energia official. This space flagship has so far assembled three Progress-M hulls and these can be fitted with equipment and launched to ISS this year already. But Energia has yet to manufacture hulls or interior equipment for those Progress ships that would be launched in 2004, one Energia designer told Space News in a recent interview.

A delegation of NASA technical specialists visited Rosaviakosmos' Moscow headquarters and Energia's Korolev production facilities Feb.12 and Feb. 13 to assess how many Progress-M ships and Soyuz-TMA crew craft are in the works. "They have now seen themselves the real state of things and can tell their superiors," a senior Energia manager told Space News in a phone interview Feb. 17 .

"We're in the process of exploring and evaluating all our options. No decisions have been made about anything," NASA spokesman Rob Navias told Space News.

The manager, who asked not to be named, said his company can try and build extra Progress ships, but only if paid in advance.  The manager noted, however, that the payment should include the money that Energia would lose if it doesn't launch Spaniard Pedro Duque on board a Soyuz-TMA spacecraft scheduled to be launched to the ISS for a 10-day stint that the European Space Agency (ESA) has promised to pay for.

The expected revenue from ESA is included in the 2003 space budget. Rosaviakosmos spokesman Sergei Gorbunov said in a recent interview that Russia would lose up to $40 million this year if it has to abandon deals to sell one seat on each of the two Soyuz-TMA spacecraft that were designated for visiting crews.

Russian, European and U.S. space officials have informally agreed that full-time ISS crews should be limited to two, but remain at loggerheads on exactly who should be next to go up to the outpost and who should descend from it, according to the Rosaviakosmos official and Energia manager. There may be simply not enough for water for a crew of three in the absence of the shuttles, according to these officials.

Energia has proposed that one Russian cosmonaut and ESA's Duque fly in May on Soyuz-TMA-2 to ISS, which presently houses Expedition 6 that comprises U.S. astronauts Kenneth Bowersox and Donald Pettit and Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin, according to the Energia manager.

The newly-arrived Russian cosmonaut would then stay on board for six months along with Bowersox for Expedition 7 while Pettit, Budarin and Duque would descend on Soyuz-TMA-1, which is presently docked to ISS, according to the Energia manager who was describing Energia's proposal.

Bowersox told NASA flight controllers Feb. 11 that he is ready to stay on for another six months. Despite his willingness to stay, NASA has rejected Energia's proposal, however.

Instead the U.S. space agency has suggested that Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and U.S. astronaut Edward Lu fly to the ISS a scenario that would leave Russia without the cash that ESA is ready to pay for Duque's flight, according to the Energia manager.

"The problem is that there are many astronauts in NASA leadership and thus, the agency wants to launch those who have trained for so long in hopes of flying" to ISS, the Energia manager said.

Prior to the suspension of the shuttle program, ISS partners had planned that Malenchenko, Lu and Russian flight engineer Alexander Kaleri would arrive at the outpost on board of Atlantis as Expedition 7.