Revision wrote:

It looks to me and some others that the ISS was a project devised to give
the Shuttle something to do.

The Shuttle was part of the Space Station as originally proposed; Nixon said
do the Shuttle first, Space Station later. So the fact that the Shuttle
can outlast it's original design specs and still build the thing is a
tribute to the system. I know it's a horribly expensive system, but it
does OK for a prototype.

The thing is so big now, and such an international effort, that NASA would
do well to keep it in operation.

Agreed, the science getting done on ISS gets so little press now, so I hope
they can ramp up the science when we go to the 6-man crew.

If the US has no way to get to ISS after
2012 or whatever, I think the Russians will exercise an increased role in
determining what level of activity occurs on the station and who gets to
go there ....

The Russians don't supply those Soyuz and Progress flights for free,
necessarily. Anything more than they originally agreed to must be
procured, making the US a paying customer. Yes, they control the launch,
but they want the $$$.


Mike Ross