By Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
WASHINGTON
(AP)—-NASA says it still has confidence in the quality of Russia's
manned rockets, despite an embarrassing series of glitches and failures
in the Russian space program.
A
leak developed recently during a test of the next Soyuz capsule
scheduled to launch astronauts to the International Space Station, so
Russian space officials have decided not to use it. That delays upcoming
launches.
NASA relies solely on Russia to take crews to the space station.
NASA space station manager Michael Suffredini said he still considers the Soyuz rocket the world's most reliable space system.
"I
have confidence in the focus and abilities of the managers who build
the systems and fly those systems," Suffredini said Thursday during a
NASA teleconference.
The
Soyuz leak means that the six crew members at the space station will
now spend a few extra weeks in space. American Dan Burbank, who is the
station commander, and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin
will stay in orbit until the end of April. American Don Petit, Dutch
astronaut Andre Kuipers and Russian Oleg Konenko, will stay in space
through the end of June for about 193 days in space, pushing close to
the limit of 200 days that NASA likes.
The
latest problem comes after a series of failures in unmanned Russian
rockets that raised questions about quality control in the nation that
launched the first satellite and human into space. Last month, a
spacecraft that was supposed to go to a Mars moon crashed back to Earth
after a launch failure. And in the past six months, a Russian
communications satellite and a cargo ship to the space station have
crashed.
"They've
had a pretty challenging year that's true," Suffredini said. But he
said that doesn't really have anything to do with the workhorse manned
Soyuz capsule.
A
private U.S. rocket—the Dragon built and operated by Space Exploration
Technologies—probably won't launch until early April on a first-ever
commercial resupply of the space station, Suffredini said. It had been
set for a launch this month, but was already delayed.
SpaceX
spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham said the company "will not launch
before late March." A date should be set in about two weeks.
Space Exploration TechnologiesSOURCE: The Associated Press
