jacob navia wrote in
:

wrote:

The BBC is reporting that after the 2006 contract completion, the
Russian space agency will only fly US astronauts on a commercial basis.

Well, they learned capitalism fairly quickly isn't it?

You wanted a capitalist Russia, now you got it!

Why should they ferry americans for free?

Well, let's see... there were those three Mir modules we paid for back
during Shuttle-Mir, and all that shuttle resupply to Mir that kept it
operating far longer than the Russians could have done on their own. We
never charged them for that, did we?

Then there were all the Russian cosmonauts flown on the shuttle prior to
the start of ISS (ISS cosmonauts being covered by the IGA). Again, no
charge. This one is ongoing, since Russian cosmonauts *not* part of a long-
duration ISS crew aren't covered by the IGA - and we are continuing not to
charge for them, either.

Then there were the two shuttle flights we added to the manifest after the
FGB launch to keep ISS aloft until the Russians could get the SM launched.
Gee, we never charged them for those, either. The cost is really adding up
now, especially if you use full-cost accounting for the shuttle flights.

Finally, we offloaded Progress logistics onto the shuttle when the Russians
unilaterally reduced their Progress commitment to ISS from six per year, to
four, then three. No telling how many shuttle flights that added to the
manifest, since the supplies were spread out over so many flights, but it's
a safe bet that at least some of the "dot-one" flights wouldn't be
necessary if the Russians hadn't reduced their Progress commitment. This
one is ongoing.

So how about it, Jacob? Let's have the Russians send us a bill for Soyuz,
in advance through the end of the ISS program. Then we'll subtract the
value of past services provided, and the projected future value of carrying
Russian cosmonauts and logistics on the shuttle, forgive the outstanding
balance the Russians will owe (and it will be a big balance, I can assure
you), then call it even. Sounds fair to me.