14 DAY TRIAL // American officials still find it hard to believe that the American space program will grind to a painful halt in 2010, with the retirement of the shuttle fleet. However, at this point, there is little anyone can do on the matter, as the aging fleet can no longer be considered safe to fly to orbit beyond that point. NASA's director Mike Griffin said that this situation is "unbelievable" and that it's a shame it came to this.
Although the Bush administration has voiced continuous support for the space program, the fact that the new Ares-Orion space booster will only be available around 2015 means that virtually all manned American space flights will cease. The only solution for NASA to participate in the $100 billion International Space Station (ISS) program is for it to "hitch" rides with the Russian-built Soyuz spacecrafts. The downside is that authorities will have to pay for the lift as any tourist would. The 15-year long partnership that has been concluded between the U.S. and Russia is entirely dependent on the good relations between the two countries.
But considering that they are at odds over the conflict in Georgia, the future of their cooperation is currently uncertain. In other words, if the situation is not quickly resolved, America will be left behind in the space race by both the Russian Federation and China, which has recently successfully launched another manned mission to orbit, while, at the same time, performing its first spacewalk in history.
Further delays in the development of the Ares-Orion project could translate into even more time spent by NASA on the bench, while the ISS will be operated by Europeans, Russians and the Chinese. Many U.S. officials expressed their strong discontent with the way things turned out, as the space agency currently has no other vehicle with which to replace the shuttles. At this point it's unclear if the partnership with Russia will continue, and, even if it does, many in Washington are not happy about the country having to depend on a foreign power for space exploration.