"Revision" wrote in message
.. .
It looks to me and some others that the ISS was a project devised to give
the Shuttle something to do.

You're trying to re-write history. Originally the shuttle was to be a
manned space vehicle to *service* a LEO space station, which would be
launched by the Saturn V. Funding for both wasn't forthcoming, so the
station part of the vision was placed on indefinate hold.

Furthermore, the shuttle morphed into the much larger vehicle we see today
in order to gain political support for the program (i.e. DOD payload and
cross-range requirements). This larger payload enabled ESA to build
Spacelab as a stop-gap measure since it would be quite some time before an
actual space station could be designed and built.

In hindsight, the ISS is a rather grandiose project. Perhaps the number
of launches budgeted for ISS was determined at a time when STS launch
rates were expected to be higher. I think, again in hindsight, that ISS
might have been done about as well with 5-6 modules and a few solar
panels.

A huge part of the problem was the change to the current orbital inclination
in order to bring the Russians on board. I woudn't be surprised if this
chnage doubled the number of US flights required since modules like the
nodes and the labs have to be launched practically empty, requiring several
more MPLM flights to outfit them.

The thing is so big now, and such an international effort, that NASA would
do well to keep it in operation. 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 .... not claiming salvage rights, but a similar concept. At the
very least they will be able to charge a high fee for transport, reboost,
etc.

Maybe with Soyuz flights, but ESA's ATV is far more capable than Progress,
so the Russians can't screw over ESA too badly there. And if Japan starts
flying HTV, Progress becomes even less necessary.

I would not expect the Russians to abandon ISS because the ability to fly
long duration manned missions carries a lot of status, and because the
station is a remarkable machine.

The Russians will keep flying because they keep getting paid for Soyuz
seats. Even if all the other international partners abandoned ISS, I'm sure
the Russians would keep flying tourists there.

Jeff
--
A clever person solves a problem.
A wise person avoids it. -- Einstein