Russia throws doubt on joint lunar space station with U.S.: RIA
Moscow may abandon a project to build a space station in lunar orbit in partnership with U.S. space agency NASA because it does not want a "second fiddle role," a Russian official said on Saturday.
[...] [The] head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said Russia might exit the joint program and instead propose its own lunar orbit space station project.
[...] A spokesman for Roscosmos said later that Russia had no immediate plans to leave the project. "Russia has not refused to take part in the project of the lunar orbit station with the USA," Vladimir Ustimenko was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.
FLOP-G?
Also at ABC (Associated Press).
Previously:
NASA Suspends Collaboration with Russia
Russia to Build New Space Station with NASA after ISS
NASA and Roscosmos Sign Joint Statement on the Development of a Lunar Space Station
Russia Assembles Engineering Group for Lunar Activities and the Deep Space Gateway
China Will Focus on a Lunar Surface Station Rather than a Lunar Orbiting Station
NASA and Roscosmos Release Joint Statement on ISS Leak Amid Rumors
Related:
NASA and International Partners Planning Orbital Lunar Outpost
President Trump Praises Falcon Heavy, Diminishes NASA's SLS Effort
NASA's Chief of Human Spaceflight Rules Out Use of Falcon Heavy for Lunar Station
This Week in Space Pessimism: SLS, Mars, and Lunar Gateway
NASA Administrator Ponders the Fate of SLS in Interview
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Could Launch Japanese and European Payloads to Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 24 2018, @06:44PM (7 children)
That's why the US stands in line, to hitch a ride on Russian spacecraft, right?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday September 24 2018, @07:38PM
The U.S. does it because it's "cheap" and goes to the ISS, which the U.S. is committed to. Once the U.S. finally cuts its dependence on Russian vehicles, a large chunk of Russian space activity will evaporate.
The U.S. continues to lead the world on space science. Look at this timeline:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Solar_System_exploration [wikipedia.org]
Can you find Russia's last successful solar system science mission?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @07:41PM (4 children)
Just cause the US system is worse, doesn't mean theirs is good, does it?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 24 2018, @07:57PM (3 children)
Of course not. I'm happy to see some civilian projects starting to work out. To my knowledge, none of those civilian craft are sacrificing safety in the pursuit of profit. Not yet, at least. Competition always lowers prices, and at the same time drives the developers to seek better ways of doing things. Russian space development may suck, but US development sucks worse, so thank my plate of spaghetti for people like Elon Musk.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @10:15PM (2 children)
They can't sacrifice safety for profits. Well, they could, but that one safety incident will tank their reputation beyond any profit margin they were able to increase. The cost of building and launching a vehicle makes skimping on safety just plain stupid.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 25 2018, @12:25AM (1 child)
Yes, that's obvious to you and me. But, to an MBA? It seems that maybe the space-going corporations don't hire MBA's.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 25 2018, @01:58AM
ULA & Ariannespace do. I bet Northrup Grumman Innovation Systems (nee OrbitalATK) does too. It takes a lot of MBA to maximize shareholder value from their government contracts. After all, you don't want the engineers talking directly with the customers! They might actually deliver what the customer wants and asked for, and working to boot, without change orders. Cannot have that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 25 2018, @02:44AM
I'm always reminded of this exchange from the opening of 2010
Dr. Floyd: "How could you convince your people to allow Americans to go on the flight?"
Moisevitch: "It won't be easy. However, I'm pretty good. A Russian craft flown by Russians... carrying a few poor Americans who need our help. That also doesn't look too bad on the front page of Pravda."
Of course, the Musky One may soon be changing that.