spacetoday.net: Partners make little progress on ISS issues

Posted: Tue, Jun 4, 2002, 8:02 AM ET (1202 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

The partners in the International Space Station, meeting in Paris Monday, made little headway in efforts to resolve problems with the project created by US plans to deal with cost overruns. A three-paragraph joint statement released Monday provided few details about the meeting, other than to say that the partners "discussed and agreed upon a timeline" for "next steps" about the station. A Space News article published Monday said that the partners gave NASA until late this year to find a way to solve the agency's budget problems. NASA plans to deal with those problems, including eliminating a habitation module and crew return vehicle, would limit the station to a three-person crew, a proposal strongly opposed by the other nations. Russian officials proposed an alternative at the meeting, using additional Soyuz spacecraft as crew return vehicles as well as a commercially-supported module as a hab module. The partners plan to meet again in Japan in November or December.