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Russian mission control mournsMoscow to stop sending space tourists
KOROLYOV, Russia -- U.S. and Russian officials gathered at Russia's mission control to mourn the crew of the shuttle Columbia and pledge continued international cooperation in space exploration. Russian space officials said they would shelve plans to carry more "space tourists" to the international space station and would use their spacecraft only to deliver long-term crews. They also offered to build spacecraft to help make up for the loss of shuttle flights during the investigation into the Columbia tragedy. An unmanned Russian Progress supply ship carrying supplies to the three men -- two Americans and a Russian -- currently crewing the space station is due to dock on Tuesday. During Monday's memorial ceremony in Korolyov, just outside Moscow, U.S. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts observed a moment of silence for the seven dead Columbia astronauts, whose pictures were displayed on the big screen in the control room. "We are deeply mourning," Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, who flew aboard the shuttle Discovery in 1999 with Rick Husband, Columbia's commander, told The Associated Press. "Rick Husband was a great friend and an excellent pilot." The U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Vershbow, told mourners that the two countries -- space-race foes during the Cold War -- should continue their cooperation on the international space station. "The space community that gathered here today will carry out the pledge of our presidents... to work together as we deal with the aftermath of the accident, ensuring that the joint work on the international space station continues," Vershbow said. "It's challenging work, it's dangerous work, it's honourable work." Russian space officials said they could keep the station manned by using Russian spacecraft instead of shuttles -- provided the United States and other participants in the 18-nation project help pay the additional cost. Russia must send two Soyuz capsules and three Progress supply ships to the station each year under an agreement with other partners in the project. Without shuttle missions, four or five Progress ships would be needed, said Yuri Semyonov, head of the state-run RKK Energia company, which builds the spacecraft that fly to the orbiting complex. "We will need money for that," Semyonov told AP. "If we get the money, we will mobilise all our resources and provide the spacecraft."
Americans Ken Bowersox and Donald Pettit and Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin had been due to return to Earth on March 1, when the shuttle Atlantis was scheduled to deliver a replacement crew. But that mission -- and all future shuttle flights -- are on hold until investigators learn what caused Columbia to disintegrate 40 miles above Earth on Saturday. Valery Lyndin, a mission control spokesman, said that leaving the international space station unmanned would be hazardous because there would be no crew to spot and fix problems. Semyonov said Russia will consult with its partners on revisions to the flight schedule. He said Russia had planned to send another space tourist to the station in April, but would now drop the idea. Mikhail Sinelshchikov, a Russian space agency official in charge of the manned space programme, said Monday that Russia would stop sending paying tourists and crews on short-term visits to the station while shuttle flights are suspended. In the past, U.S. shuttles have ferried long-term crews to the 16-nation space station, while Russian rockets have carried visiting crews in fresh Soyuz craft that they leave behind as emergency escape vehicles. An American and a South African have paid a reported $20 million each to fly to the space station aboard Russian rockets. Russian space agency spokesman Sergey Gorbunov told CNN on Sunday that the station could face at least a temporary abandonment if the shuttle program suspension lasts too long. The Progress carries about two tons of supplies, compared with the 30 tons a space shuttle can lift. Additionally, he said, a U.S. shuttle with its three engines can make the trip in less time and at less cost than the single-engine Progress. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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