Russia Declares 'Era Of Soyuz' After Shuttle

Source: Agence France-Presse

MOSCOW — Moscow on Thursday declared it is now "the era of the Soyuz" after the US shuttle's last flight left the Russian system as the sole means for delivering astronauts to the International Space Station.

Far less glamorous than the horizontal-landing winged shuttle, the principle of Russia's Soyuz rocket and capsule system for sending humans into space has changed little since Yuri Gagarin became the first man in orbit in 1961.

But after the successful landing of the US Space Shuttle Atlantis Thursday drew the curtain on the 30-year US space shuttle programme, it is now the only vehicle which can propel astronauts towards the ISS.

"From today, the era of the Soyuz has started in manned space flight, the era of reliability," the Russian space agency Roskosmos said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j8bjUwaTCVNlScOAFeoCNyl6XYDQ?docId=CNG.0225070ae41d17bb66570abee97407e8.ba1

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Ouch! That'll leave a mark, indeed!

Putin must be celebrating, we'll be filling his pockets for many years. Looks like the Russians won the space race after all.

Sorry folks..but all this country thinks about is getting that free glass with a fill up. We want it all..but we don't want to pay for anything. Guess we are doomed to third world status in my life time. Honestly, take a look at Japan, China, most of Europe; THEY invest in their country. We do whatever we can to "cut taxes" and make those nice juicy big profits.

"Sensing a commercial opportunity....The Soyuz's imminent monopoly status has given Russia even more bargaining leverage.

The $56 million price that the Russian Space Agency charges NASA to send up astronauts is set to go up to $63 million per passenger from 2014. A recent contract extension totals $753 million and covers trips for a dozen NASA astronauts from 2014 through 2016."

aff.com/story/15106379/russia-relishes-chances-created-by-end-of-shuttle

The Russians are right to be proud of their program...they have built up a reliable space infrastructure.

However, it is one that does not encourage serious technological innovation and advancement.

The US program, for all its faults, does that very well. The Shuttle, while not the program that was originally advertised, was a huge leap forward in advancing systems for the long term use of space. It's cargo capacity is way above what the Russians can do, and frankly, the ISS could not have been built without it.

In other areas as well, the US has a vastly superior technical capability over the Russian program...satellite technology, planetary exploration etc. That's not to say the Russians could not do that, they certainly could, hell they got probes to the surface of Venus almost 40 years ago...but the focus has been different.

So, to me, rather than viewing the programs as competitors I look at it as two complementary programs, each doing what they do best. If we can continue and strengthen the partnership between the two, both will benefit!

:think:

SpaceX's Dragon module will dock with the ISS Dec 7th. SpaceX will likely try to get NASA to man rate the craft by 2013.

Government will be paying....

I really don't see how this is fundamentally different.

Private enterprise in space won't amount to much more than billboards in orbit - and maybe on the moon. A bit of rich people tourism perhaps, until they get jaded. Porn movies filmed in 0 g.

SpaceX is about to find out that "real" space exploration is slightly "more complex" than making snazzy CGI animations and hubris.


Amazing how a company with basically no track record has been able to convince so many people to sideline proven technology.

I know of no other company, (see major US defense contractors) thats been awarded a larger contract to deliver cargo to the ISS. By all appearances SpaceX is the only company to be awarded COTS contracts, that actually has a rocket, and a track record.

only governments have the kinda money it takes to fund an effective space program.

look for china and india and others to now take on the leadership role in space exploration.

They spent the money, they deserve it, our leadership are cowards.

trips into orbit and to the ISS (and back).

Both Europe and Japan have "Automated Transfer Vehicles" (ATVs) for delivery of materials to the ISS (and the Arianne launcher is succesful in economic and reliability terms).

I see there is some talk about a possible ESA-NASA collaboration to produce the next generation ATV, which could be designed for manned round-trips, Soyuz-style, by the end of the decade:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-05/jointly-designed-nasaesa-spacecraft-could-take-flight-decades-end

I guess it all depends on the political will and the cash invested. The higher Russia raises its prices for Soyuz trips, the more economically interesting this option should become.

Of course, China will definitely be a player by then.

"The higher Russia raises its prices for Soyuz trips, the more..." What a capitalist mindset. Please tell us, Mr. Capitalist, just who is demanding all these Soyuz trips? Mr. & Mrs. Teabagger? The Koch Brothers? Pensioners who are having their Social Security cut?

I did put 'political will' first! But, perhaps China apart in this context, it appears to be the case that 'money talks' at the moment.

Let this, indeed, change.

Saludos desde España.

U.S.: the can't do nation.

Soyuz was designed to take humans to the moon.
Once the race to the moon was over, both US and USSR scaled back their manned space programs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Adventures#Lunar_Mission

Lunar Mission
Main article: DSE-Alpha

Space Adventures is offering advance booking for a future lunar mission involving travel to circumnavigate the moon, on a circumlunar trajectory. Pricing has been announced at US$100 million per seat. This mission will utilize two Russian launch vehicles. One Soyuz capsule will be launched into low-earth orbit by a Soyuz rocket. Once in orbit, the manned capsule will dock with a second, unmanned, lunar-propulsion module which will then power the circumlunar portion of the trip.<8> The mission will last 8–9 days. It will take 2–3 days to approach the Upper Stage (Block DM), 2–3 days to approach the moon, there's approximately a 45 minute observation of the moon from 100 km-1000 km above the moon’s surface, and will return to Earth in 2–3 days.<8> Space Adventures has announced that they have sold one of the seats on the lunar voyage for $150 million, and are in negotiations for selling a second seat. They wouldn't reveal the name of the person to whom the ticket was sold but claim he or she is well known. Space Adventures hopes the circumlunar voyage will occur sometime in 2015. <9><10>

Only we've been able to do that...so far.

Where no multi-millionaire has gone before.

The US manned-space program more than paid for itself in new technologies, jobs, and defense. Now gone. President Obama cancelled the Constellation program, which was well into development. Some 16000 jobs lost, and how much technology either scrapped or will not happen? Very poor omen for the future.

give a rats ass about sending people into space...probably one day in some military fashion. At least we still have rockets, orbital telescopes and other platforms to study the universe with.

That is one small step backward for man, er Americans.