Russia plans flight to Mars and development of space tourism

[telfrow]

<font color="yellow">MOSCOW, August 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will start an experimental program for preparation for flights to Mars in 2006, said Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos.<br /><br />"The agency is not planning a manned flight to Mars until 2015, although we will start an experimental program at the Institute of Medical and Biological Research next year," he told the Voice of Russia state-controlled radio station. "An international six-men crew will conduct a simulated 500-day flight to Mars."<br /><br />Perminov said Russia would send a probe to Phobos, one of Mars' two moons, to test launch, landing and take-off procedures, soil sampling and practice the return flight to Earth.<br /><br />Perminov also said Russia planned to continue its space tourism program.</font><br /><br />Full story here:<br /><br />http://en.rian.ru/science/20050804/41092564.html<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[spacefire]

I think Japan will be the first country on Mars. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[astrophoto]

A race to Mars sounds tempting, but may ultimately be a very bad idea. I am all for competition, but in competition corners tend to be cut and less-than-ideal conditions are often allowed. Imagine if we rushed our program 'to beat the <insert country here>' ... then something tragic happens deep in inter-planetary space. How would the American public react when they are told that 6 of their countrymen are stranded in space with no hope for rescue? This needs to be done the right way in order to not set us back into more decades of spinning around in LEO after one mishap.

 

[grooble]

Why didn't the soviets embarrass the US by going to the moon in the 1980s whilst the US was incapable of it?

 

[mrmorris]

<font color="yellow">"... in the 1980s whilst the US was incapable of it?"</font><br /><br />Um... maybe because the Soviet Union was in the process of melting down at the time? Or maybe because at the time when they <b>weren't melting</b>, all their space dollars were going into the Buran program... which by all accounts was as much of a ruble hog (on a Russian scale) of their space program as the shuttle was (is) a dollar hog of ours. Or maybe because their Luna 15-24 missions ranging from 1969-1976 garnered them the same 'blah' reaction from world opinion as every post Apollo-11 mission (excepting 13, of course) despite being in some ways more technically impressive than Apollo.<br /><br />Nobody remembers (or cares) who comes in second.

 

[frodo1008]

I wish anyone who is going to try to get humanity into space all the luck and good fortune possible!<br /><br />Of course, the Russians are going to have to go up against some VERY stiff compitition in the space tourism business at least. No, I am not talking about NASA, what I am talking about is going to be a far more powerful force in this area! Pure capitalistic companies such as T-space (Burt Rutan) working with such as Virgin Galactic. These people are going to be the real compitition for the space tourist dollars!!<br />

 

[para3]

When pigs fly. The Russian Space Agency couldn't even pay it's electric bill. Besides, they couldn't even get to the moon because of their lack of technology. We can all see what a failure the space shuttle Buran was. And people criticizes our shuttle? Whew!<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font size="3" color="#99cc00">.....Shuttle me up before I get tooooooooo old and feeble.....</font></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><font size="4" color="#ff6600">---Happiness is winning a huge lottery--- </font></strong></p> </div>

 

[syndroma]

Para3,<br />Funny, every statement in your message is incorrect. What have the Russian Space Agency done to you to make you so angry?

 

[spaceinator]

I wonder why NASA won't get into the space tourism business at all. The last billionaire (or the one before that?) who went up with the Russians tried to get a ride up in the shuttle first but NASA refused. If they advertised that they would bring say, one billionare per flight for a good chunk of $$$ they would not only get some money out of it but some much needed (positive) publicity.

 

[chriscdc]

Go with Russia and they could only really charge you a 1/3 of whatever it costs to launch the soyuz. Go with the shuttle and it will cost you 1/7 of 1billion dollars, muhahaha.

 

[chriscdc]

Could they have at least orbited the moon once in a soyuz capsule. Stick the Soyuz on top of a larger rocket like the energia.<br />I suppose though it wouldn't have achieved much as the americans would just take out their holiday snaps from the surface.

 

[para3]

Every statement is not wrong. The Russians never put a man on the moon. No one went up on the one time flight of the shuttle Buran. And the last time I was in Russia, everyone was struggling to pay their electric bills including the Russia Space Agency. <br /><br />There still may be some articles about the Russian electric bills still floating around on the Internet somewhere. <br /><br />I'm not angry at the Russians. I just don't see them ever going to Mars-period! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font size="3" color="#99cc00">.....Shuttle me up before I get tooooooooo old and feeble.....</font></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><font size="4" color="#ff6600">---Happiness is winning a huge lottery--- </font></strong></p> </div>

 

[syndroma]

Para3,<br /> /> <i>And the last time I was in Russia, everyone was struggling to pay their electric bills including the Russia Space Agency.</i><br /><br />Then, you were in some different Russia, not the one I live in. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />1207,<br /> /> <i>The Russians do not have the money to go to Mars, or the Moon for that matter.</i><br /><br />Actually, they do. Russian government has about $25bn of spare money, and it is looking for the places to invest in. But not in the space program.<br /><br /><br />Also, I want to apologise for photoneye's words. I can assure you that most of the Russian space enthusiasts pay all respect to Space Shuttle and people who make it flying.

 

[spacefire]

are you talking about the Russia Govt or the Russian Mafia, or are they the same thing? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[chebby]

Don't forget, Russians need the shuttle flying as much as Americans - someone has to finish the space station <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <br /><br />And Para3, you're clueless...

 

[john_316]

While sometimes I oppose international cooperation in space flight for some areas I do like the Russian committment when they get things up and running on their end of things.<br /><br />I really dont have anything bad to say about Russian equipment. They build good rockets and they build a good space capsule (Soyuz)...<br /><br />I think the manned mission to Mars envisioned by the USA is going to be nuclear and I do not see a problem having Russian engineers and mission specialist on the journey. Actually I would think that a joint USA-Russian operation to be beneficial to both countries.<br /><br />I don't mind the Russians on any trip as long as the french dont come...<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />