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.

FMI: www.nasa.gov