Hints It Would Really Like A Few Bucks For The Effort

The Russian Space Agency Friday morning sent a Progress resupply ship into orbit for rendezvous with the International Space Station Alpha-One. At the same time, Russian space officials hinted with all the subtlety of a non-precision air strike that they'd sure like to be reimbursed for the costs of carrying the ISS program alone while NASA space shuttles are grounded.

The 5:48 a.m. (Moscow Time) launch of the Progress M-48 mission from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Friday was described by observers as "picture perfect." It carries food, water, videos and even a satellite phone ("Hello operator? This is really long distance") to crew members Yuri Malenchenko of Russia and Ed Lu of the United States. It's also carrying equipment for experiments that will be conducted when the next crew boards the ISS in October.

About That Sat Phone, All Kidding Aside

Malenchenko and Lu will return to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule. You might remember the last time that happened in a first-ever launch for the latest in Russia's venerable line of orbiting vehicles. It landed off target. Way off target. Hundreds of miles off target. It actually took quite a bit of time for Recovery crews to find the capsule and its occupants in the vast, sparsely-inhabited plains of Siberia. So, keeping in mind that cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn always kept his feathers numbered "for just such an emergency," the sat phone will be handy in case this recovery mission needs a few directions. Well, it's better than borrowing change for a payphone, right?

Speaking Of Loose Change...

"This is becoming a very costly business for Russia," Yuri Semyonov, head of RKK Energia that leads Russia's participation in the ISS, told the Reuters news service in Baikonur. "We will try to reach an agreement with the Americans, but there are annoying legal hiccups," he said without elaborating. "Today, we are trying to convey this problem to Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Bush. We do hope to find their understanding." Russia's space program, along with its military spending, have been deeply affected by the ongoing budget crunch in the former Soviet state. Since the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry, Russia has been carrying the ISS program all by itself.

(Well, don't look at us. We're all a bunch of broke journalists here)

FMI: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station