Uncertainty, Budgets Cutting Space Crew
The International Space Station, probably the loneliest place
anywhere near Earth right now, is going to get a little lonelier,
as NASA pares one of the three crewmen from that orbiting lab.
Designed for a crew of seven, the permanent crews
have been held to just three, due to limitations of the
Russian-made Soyuz escape ships. Now, with the future of the Space
Shuttle program literally unknown, NASA is going to stretch
existing consumables as far as they can safely go, and bring one
denizen home.
With only two crew at the ISS, experiments will be curtailed, as
well; but the alternatives -- either hoping that supply vehicles
would become available 'soon enough' to keep three crewmen going,
or shuttering the station altogether until NASA gets its shuttle
troubles behind her -- were both less-desireable than running at
the minimum, reduced rate.
In late April or early May, Expedition Six, the three aboard the
ISS, Nikolai Budarin, Ken Bowersox and Don Pettit, will come home,
and a new crew -- one American and one Russian -- will go up, to
maintain the station.
Russia senses funding...
Russia, meanwhile, is making noises about how the US needs to
step up and pay for the extra Progress (unmanned supply ships) and
Soyuz missions. With the shuttles grounded, the continued existence
of the ISS depends solely on Russia's broad, but impecunious,
shoulders. The other 14 partners in the "International" Space
Station -- Japan, Canada, and several European nations -- are not
capable of reaching the ISS, unless they hitch a ride on a US or
Russian spacecraft. None has volunteered to pay extra, to help
fund a stepped-up Russian schedule.
Short shelf life:
If for some reason the ISS must be abandoned, it would remain
salvageable for as few as six, and no more than 18, months,
depending on the station's condition and fuel supplies at the time
of its abandonment. The US taxpayers have almost a hundred billion
dollars sunk into its hardware and transportation costs, so far;
and many of the ISS partners have made heavy investment in it, as
well.
If the scheduled April/May launch does not take place, the three
aboard the ISS would have to lay low, use as little food and power
as possible, and hope for reinforcements by late June -- or be
forced to abandon ship. No public discussion of the efficacy of
leaving one or two aboard the ISS beyond June, in the hope of later
"lifeboat service," has yet been made -- NASA apparently plans to
bring all three home, replacement crew or no.