spacetoday.net: space news from around the webin association with SpaceNews


ISS partners agree to expand station crews
Posted: Sat, Jul 24, 2004, 2:55 PM ET (1855 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA) Representatives of the five major International Space Station (ISS) partners agreed Friday on a plan that would allow the station to host crews as large as six people by the end of the decade. At meeting in the Netherlands, the ISS partners agreed to a new assembly plan for the station that will, among other things, provide "early opportunities for an enhanced crew of greater than three people." Reports suggested that this would permit a crew of up to six to stay on the station, although Reuters reported the crew could be as small as four; the ISS hosted three-person crews prior to the Columbia accident last year. The expanded crew would also require additional Soyuz spacecraft to serve as lifeboats, which may require NASA to purchase them, something not permitted today by US law. Once the shuttle returns to flight, it will be focused on completing the assembly of the station, with crew rotations to continue to be performed by Soyuz spacecraft. NASA will also look into ways to accelerate the launch of the Kibo and Columbus laboratory modules for Japan and Europe, respectively.
<<previous article   next article>>
news in brief
EU moves forward with satellite broadband constellation
Posted: Sun, Nov 3 10:02 AM ET (1502 GMT)

Russia launches military satellite
Posted: Sun, Nov 3 9:59 AM ET (1459 GMT)

Lockheed Martin completes acquisition of Terran Orbital
Posted: Sun, Nov 3 9:57 AM ET (1457 GMT)

news links
Monday, November 4
Firms may not deal with Defence after JP9102 axe, says SIAA
Space Connect (Australia) — 6:20 am ET (1120 GMT)
Defence confirms JP9102 cancellation
Australian Defence Magazine — 6:20 am ET (1120 GMT)


about spacetoday.net   ·   info@spacetoday.net   ·   mailing list