Russia is kicking NASA out of the International Space Station in 2020

[n2doc]

On Tuesday, Russia announced that starting in 2020, it will no longer allow NASA astronauts on the International Space Station, in retaliation for sanctions levied by the US because of Russia's invasion of Crimea.

How can Russia bar American astronauts from a station that both countries own? Simple. Right now, NASA relies on Russian rockets to get its astronauts to and from space, paying them $70.7 million for each one-way ticket.The surprising announcement won't affect the two US astronauts and three Russian cosmonauts currently aboard the International Space Station, orbiting about 260 miles above Earth's surface, or the future missions there planned over the next few years.

But the most recent plans were for the station to operate at least until 2024. Now, with Russia angered by the sanctions — especially those blocking high-tech exports that might help the Russian military — that no longer seems to be possible.

If these tensions don't resolve by 2020, things could really get messy in space. Private American space companies are hoping to have their own transport systems in place by then — so NASA could theoretically access the station on its own — but Russia is claiming that its space agency, Roscosmos, would try to operate its portion of the station without NASA involvement.

more

http://www.vox.com/2014/5/13/5714650/russia-just-evicted-nasa-from-the-international-space-station

[phantom power]

1. we have every right to be there... but they don't owe us a ride

[gordianot]

2. By 2020 a lot of water flows under the bridge.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Maybe China and India will supply replacement demand.

[Downwinder]

4. Whose bright idea was it that we should depend on Russian transport?

[Bosonic]

5. meh

SpaceX Plans Manned Mission for 2015

WASHINGTON -- A top executive at SpaceX said Wednesday that the California-based rocket company hoped to launch U.S. astronauts into orbit as early as 2015 -- with the twist that these space-farers would be SpaceX employees and not NASA personnel.

The goal was announced during a NASA news conference held at Kennedy Space Center intended to broadly update the public on the agency's efforts to use commercial companies to ferry its astronauts to the International Space Station.

But the pronouncement by ex-NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman -- now a project manager with SpaceX -- stole the show, especially because SpaceX made history last year by becoming the first commercial company to blast an unmanned spacecraft to the station and return it safely to Earth.

"We are not selling tickets. Don't call our toll-free number," joked Reisman, who said the test flight would be part of the company's effort to convince NASA that its Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon capsules are safe enough to carry NASA crews.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/spacex-sending-humans-to-space-20130110

[hunter]

6. I'm not look forward to the space opera version of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre#Status_quo

The immovable ladder:



My hope for the space station is that they boost it up, unmanned, to a museum orbit when they are done with it.

This would be a great test of larger solar electric engines.

[n2doc]

7. What if they put a couple of ion thrusters on it

And sent it to mars? It could become a staging base there!

Undoubtedly lots of problems, but would be more exciting than burning it up a la skylab.