Bush Okays Soyuz Flights

On September 30, President Bush signed into law the bill giving NASA authority to negotiate with Russia to purchase flights for Western astronauts aboard Soyuz capsules. That will allow NASA access to ISS between the final shuttle flight and the first flight of Orion.

Hopefully, the irony of the necessity of such a deal is not lost on anyone. Forty years after America won the Space Race, NASA has been reduced to buying seats on Soyuz flights to get astronauts into space for three or four years. The American political system has proven unable to develop and execute a long range technological program. That is discouraging in a world that will rely increasingly on high technology.

The Soyuz bill was part of a larger bill that included NASA funding for part of the next fiscal year. Funding will be maintained at current levels, which comes out to just under $ 18 billion a year, or less than one percent of total federal spending.