Russia thriving again on the final frontier

Alan Boyle Science editor • Profile • E-mail

KOROLYOV, Russia - The future of the Russian space program is just a stairway and a corridor away from its past.

On one side of the Federal Space Agency's Mission Control Center, just outside Moscow, you'll find a darkened auditorium, with plaques commemorating four decades’ worth of Soviet and Russian space crews. This is where ground controllers managed the Mir space station until its fall four years ago.

On the other side, the lights are on in a very similar auditorium, where controllers and a huge display screen keep track of the international space station. This is where Russia has placed its bets for at least the next decade — a decision that could have an impact on NASA's own vision for future space exploration.

Russia's role in supporting the space station takes the spotlight this weekend with the launch Friday night of a two-man relief crew and millionaire space passenger Greg Olsen aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule. The 10-day mission underlines how crucial Russia has been to the station's operation in the wake of the 2003 Columbia disaster and continuing safety concerns about the U.S. shuttles.

"It certainly is fair to say that the Russian space program saved the space station itself," said Yuri Karash, a space policy consultant based in Moscow.

Now the orbital outpost is a key point of contention as Russia re-energizes its space effort and tries to match NASA's ambitions for future exploration.

Russia's 10-year plan for space
What a difference four years makes: In 2001, when Mir plunged out of orbit, it looked as if Russia's space program was going down with it, scraping by on a budget of less than $200 million a year.

Today, boosted by Russia's oil revenue, the government has committed to a 10-year plan for space exploration, funded to the tune of $1 billion a year. That's far less than the price tag for NASA's 13-year, $104 billion plan to return to the moon. But while America's space effort is struggling with safety issues and tight budgets, Russia is now seen as having the world's safest, most cost-effective human spaceflight system.

Mladen Antonov / AFP - Getty Images A mock-up of Russia's reusable Kliper spacecraft went on display in August at the MAKS-2005 aerospace show in the town of Zhukovsky, near Moscow.

Like NASA, the Russians plan to develop a new breed of spaceship: a winged craft called the Kliper, capable of carrying a crew of six and built in partnership with the European Space Agency. Like NASA, the Russians plan to work toward lunar landings in the latter half of the next decade, leading to the establishment of permanent moon bases as steppingstones to Mars and beyond.

Unlike NASA, the Russians plan to keep selling tickets to space, seeing it as a way to boost both budgets and public perception of the space program. Their goals are ambitious here as well, with plans to sell a trip around the moon for $100 million a seat.

Of course, the Russian space effort has never suffered from a shortage of grand plans. Among the ideas floated in the past are the Enterprise commercial space module, the free-flying Mini Station 1, the Marpost spacecraft for Martian exploration and yet another bargain-basement Mars mission. Nothing ever came of any of these.

"There are many more plans available than money," Karash observed.

This time, however, Russia's plans sound more ... well, down to earth.

Nikolai Sevastianov, the president and general designer of Russia's Energia rocket company, outlined for MSNBC.com a development program that for the most part builds on tried-and-true hardware design.

Energia, the Russian space industry's equivalent of the Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., is heavily involved in the space station construction.

"We are planning to build three additional modules which will be part of the ISS,” Sevastianov said, estimating that the Russian side of the station could be complete in 2011. 

He said Russia's 10-year space roadmap called for an expansion of satellite operations, drawing upon commercial as well as state funding. New lines of launch vehicles, such as the Angara rocket, would take their place alongside an upgraded version of the Soyuz rocket, Russia’s traditional launcher for manned spaceflight.

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