Russia Wants Guarantees U.S. Will Pay for Soyuz

摘要

American astronauts could be barred from Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center starting this spring until the United States guarantees that it will pay for Soyuz flights to the international space station once Russia's obligations to provide those flights expires early next year. A U.S.-Russian agreement dating back to 1996, which secures American astronauts a seat aboard the Soyuz spacecraft that ferry crews to the international space station and ensures their safe return in an emergency, expires in April 2006. While Russia is willing to continue providing Soyuz spacecraft for the international space station after that, Russian officials have made it clear they expect to be paid for those flights and for the mandatory crew training that occurs before each Soyuz mission to the space station.