It’s taken only thirty years for the United States in its golden years to go from keeping the Evil Empire in check to becoming reliant upon it — as well as beginning to give them the already-domestically-produced rope from which they will hang USA with. As long as the American shopping mall regime still has plenty of Apple stores from which to purchase a new iPad and plenty of Kardashians to follow, there is no problem or real news to be concerned of.
NASA will pay $US70.7 million ($A68.50 million) to Russia for each astronaut Moscow’s space agency ferries into orbit in 2016 and 2017, the US space agency said.
NASA and Roscomos signed a $US424 million agreement to bring six US astronauts aloft for long-term mission aboard the ISS. The deal would cover all training, launch preparation, flight operation, landing and if needed rescue efforts.
The previous agreement had set the price at $US62.7 million per seat through 2015.
The US has been reliant on the Russian Soyuz craft to bring its astronauts into orbit since the retirement of its space shuttle fleet in 2011. The US is supporting the development of commercial spacecraft, which have so far delivered cargo to the ISS, but are not yet ready to carry crew.
“While our Russian counterparts have been good partners, it is unacceptable that we don’t currently have an American capability to launch our own astronauts,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said.
Full article: Russia charging NASA $A68m per rocket seat (Daily Telegraph)
Global Geopolitics 