Despite the setbacks that have plagued Russia's space program recently, the next crew of astronauts headed for the international space station (ISS) remains confident in its Russian rocket ride. The spacefiiers - two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut - are slated to launch toward the orbiting lab aboard a Soyuz spacecraft March 29. They say they do not anticipate any problems, even though Russia has suffered five high-profile space failures over the past year, including the loss of the Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, which crashed to Earth Jan. 15. "I feel very confident, and we're ready for a good ride," NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, a flight engineer on the upcoming Expedition 31 to the space station, told reporters in early January. 2011 was a bad year for the Russian space program. On Feb. 1, a Rockot launch vehicle foiled to place an Earth-observing satellite in the proper orbit. A similar problem occurred on Aug. 18, when a Proton rocket delivered a $300 million communications satellite to the wrong orbit.
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