WASHINGTON
- NASA will pay the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) $21.8 million
per passenger for Soyuz rides to and from the International Space Station (ISS)
starting this spring.
NASA
spokeswoman Melissa Mathews said Jan. 5 that the U.S. space agency and its
Russian counterpart concluded a $43.8 million deal just before New Year's Day
that includes Soyuz transportation to and from the space station for NASA's
newly named Expedition 13 crew member, Jeff Williams, and a ride home for
astronaut Bill
McArthur, who has been living onboard the station since October.
Under the
deal, Russia also will provide what Mathews described as "a small amount" of
cargo space aboard a Progress
resupply ship slated to launch to the station later this year and initial Soyuz
training for NASA's Expedition 14 crew member. That astronaut will head to the station
this autumn aboard a Soyuz if the space shuttle is not back in service by then.
The
agreement also reserves a seat for Williams should he and his cosmonaut
crewmate be forced to evacuate the station aboard a Soyuz craft in an
emergency.
As part of
its contribution to the space station program, Russia has set aside Soyuz seats
for American astronauts at no charge to the United States since 2000. But that
deal essentially expired last October when Russia launched
the 11th and final Soyuz called for under an earlier bilateral agreement.
Mathews
described the new agreement as a short term extension of an existing contract
NASA signed with the Russian space agency before the Iran Nonproliferation Act
became law in 2000. That act barred NASA from paying Russia
for any space station-related goods and services as long as Russia continues to
help Iran acquire missiles and other advanced weaponry.
The law was
amended by
the U.S. Congress at the request of the White House in late 2005, clearing the
way for NASA buy Soyuz and Progress services from Russia until 2011, when the
temporary relief would expire.
While NASA
has only contracted for six months of services at this point, Mathews said
Russia has agreed to honor the $21.8 million per seat price through 2011.
advertisement
