R
radarredux
Guest
(1) The shuttle will not fly again until March 2006 at the earliest.<br /><br />(2) The current agreement with Russia to fly Americans to the ISS ends about the same time. For the April 2006 Soyuz launch "<i>two seats in the Soyuz would be given to Russian cosmonauts and one would go to either a space tourist, a European Space Agency astronaut or any other candidate who can pay for the flight.</i>" (Space Daily article).<br /><br />(3) With Iran starting nuclear enrichment again, and some evidence that Iran is arming insurgents in Iraq, weakening ITAR/INA to allow NASA to buy Russia services may be politically difficult.<br /><br />So what happens if the Shuttle isn't ready to fly by March and Congress doesn't approve NASA buying launch and lifeboat services from Russia?<br /><br />The March/April 2006 timeframe may be very interesting.