Speaking in Paris, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin urged European space officials and executives to build on the success of the Automated Transfer Vehicle to develop a human space vehicle, the Associate Press reports.
“We welcome the development of independent European capabilities in space to provide redundant systems in the event of failure of any one partner’s capabilities,” Griffin said, referring to the International Space Station.
NASA will retire the space shuttle in 2010; it could be five years before its replacement, Orion, will be ready to fly with astronauts. In the meantime, the Russian Soyuz will be the only vehicle capable of carrying humans to ISS. There is great concern in the United States about being too dependent on Russia.
Interestingly enough, any European human space program could increase dependence on the Russians. ESA and Russia are considering whether to jointly develop a new vehicle, which might fly on a new Russian booster, Flightglobal.com reports.
“The Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Centre’s in-development Angara rocket could launch the proposed Russian-European Space Agency Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS) spacecraft, according to the head of Russia’s Federal Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov.”
Europe is studying several options for human spaceflight. It also has a vehicle, Ariane 5, that could be used to launch the new vehicle. No decision is expected at least until European space ministers meet this Fall.
