spacetoday.net: O'Keefe: ISS will remain occupied

Posted: Sat, Dec 28, 2002, 7:39 PM ET (0039 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe said in an interview Friday that there are no plans to temporarily remove crews from the International Space Station (ISS) because of Russian funding shortfalls. O'Keefe said on NPR's "Science Friday" radio program that it was not a "likely prospect" that the station will be evacuated next year because of Russian problems building Soyuz spacecraft that are used as lifeboats on the station. MSNBC reported last month that NASA had started planning to evacuate the three-person ISS crew in mid-2003 for up to a year because construction of Soyuz and Progress spacecraft had fallen behind schedule. Rosaviakosmos officials said after a meeting of the ISS partners earlier this month that they would be able to build the Soyuz spacecraft required to keep crews on the station.