Budget Cuts And Outsourced Training Could Put NASA's Astronauts At Risk
When NASA retires its fleet of space shuttles next year, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft will become the only means of transporting people to the International Space Station. American astronauts have trained part-time on Soyuz craft in Moscow since the early 1990s, but recent bureaucratic struggles and outdated equipment are taking the shine off the Russian space program, once famous for its reliability. In May, for instance, a Soyuz crew-two Americans and one Russia -failed its preflight certification exam, a rare embarrassment. On the ISS in July, after retaking the exam, one crew member accidentally aborted the automated docking of an unmanned supply vehicle, causing a delay of several days. Publicly, NASA has dismissed these miscues as unconnected, the type of thing that happens all time. And that might be the case. But now that Russians will teach the bulk of the most hazardous phases of spaceflight, launching and landing, some NASA officials...