Space Station Crew May Have to Return Home

MOSCOW -- Echoing what NASA officials said a day earlier, a Russian space official on Friday said the two-man crew on the international space station could be forced to return to Earth if a planned resupply flight cannot reach them with food supplies later this month.

"I don't want to discuss this possibility, and I won't call it emergency evacuation. I'd rather call it termination of the international mission ahead of time," said Russian Space Agency spokesman Vyacheslav Davidenko.

A Progress supply ship carrying food and other supplies is slated for launch on Dec. 24 and would reach the station on Dec. 26. The crew has already been ordered to cut back on meals because food is running short.

Russian rockets and the non-reusable Soyuz space craft have been the only way NASA can get to the space station and back since the U.S. shuttle fleet was grounded after the Columbia burned up on re-entry in February 2003, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-russia-space-station,0,1045610.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

will the space station be done for? They've been saying the 2 man crew spends all of their time maintaining the station. If they're gone, can they put it in standby mode and go back later or is it just a big piece of space junk. Spaceship One finally brought back hope to the US. The ESA leads the space race now in my opinion. I think they have the best delivery systems out there. If they tried manned spaceflight, I'd bet they'd be able to do it much more efficiently than NASA.