outsourcing NASA's manned space program to Russia
outsourcing NASA's manned space program to Russia
Date: Thursday, May 21, 2009 6:31 PM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2018 -- 5/21/2009 >>>>>
NASA will soon be outsourcing its entire manned space program to Russia.
The space shuttle is being decommissioned until a new manned space vehicle can
be made to get U.S. astronauts into orbit. In the meantime the U.S.
will be totally dependent on hitching rides on the Russian Soyuz space capsule
to get to the space station. The soonest the U.S. can fly into space without
the help of the Russians would be 2014.
NASA shies away from calling what they are doing outsourcing and judging from
the majority of news articles, NASA isn't saying much about this at all.
Russia calls the outsourcing deal a form of tourism for American astronauts.
Regardless of what bureaucrats call it the U.S. will have to pay $51 million
to the Russians for a round trip to the space station. The
$51 million probably doesn't include the price of luggage! The price us up
from $21 million per flight that Russia charged in 2006.
$51 million is a big chunk of change that may look like price gouging --
especially since that hefty price tag is only for one seat aboard the Soyuz.
Russia claims that it has to charge so much because of inflation.
Russia is correct about worldwide inflation but what they didn't say is that
the inflation is caused by a falling U.S. dollar that is losing value because
of our massive trade imbalances, which is caused in part by the insatiable
desire in the U.S. to outsource everything including spaceflight to foreign
countries,
According to Wikipedia the price of a single shuttle launch is $60 million, so
using the Russian Soyuz is no bargain. The shuttle can carry up to 6 people,
which would cost $306 million if the Soyuz was used to do the same thing. It
took me a little digging to find out that the space shuttle can carry ten
times the cargo an unmanned Russian Progress can handle -- 5,000 for the
Progress versus 50,000 lb (22 700 kg). If the Soyuz carries it maximum of
three people the cargo is much less than the Progress because it uses
basically the same rocket. So, in order to outsource the space shuttle to
Russia we will pay far more money for a totally inferior product. In the
meantime our money will support the Russian space program and the jobs of
Russian scientists and engineers. What kind of deal is that?
Thousands of rocket scientists have already lost their jobs as NASA prepares
to outsource the space shuttle program to Russia, and 900 more Americans will
soon lose their jobs as the manufacturing facilities for the space shuttle are
closed down. It is not known how many of those contractors will eliminate
their H-1B workers, but there are plenty to choose from. Look at this
spreadsheet of Shuttle contractors that use H-1Bs from Dr. Gene Nelson:
http://www.jobdestruction.info/ShameH1B/Library/BrainSavers/Shuttle_Contractors_DoL.PDF
Keep in mind that it was just five years ago that NASA was complaining about a
shortage of engineers!
In 2004 NASA and other government agencies orchestrated a huge propaganda
campaign to con gullible high school students into majoring in engineering and
science so that they could work at NASA. As Pete Cerny, deputy technical
director for ASMDA's ground-based missile defense system explained, they were
planting, "the seed that there is some very interesting work in engineering
and science here in town - opportunities they [smart high school students]
ought to consider," NASA officials said that they were concerned there won't
be enough "young talent coming through the ranks to replace retiring
scientists and technicians".
The high school students who listened to NASA's 2004 plea for more engineers
should be graduating soon -- perhaps this year. Many of them will proudly
march to NASA with their new engineering and aerospace diplomas in order to
apply for all of those lucrative jobs they were promised -- but they will be
greeted by closed doors and hostile HR personnel.
It would be a very good newspaper story to follow up on these young college
grads to see how they and their parents feel about being stiffed by NASA.
If by chance one of those grads sees this newsletter, please email me with
your experiences.
REFERENCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program#Costs
Space Shuttle program
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz-FGSoyuz-FG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_(spacecraft)
Progress (spacecraft)
http://www.spacetoday.org/SpcStns/SoyuzTransport.html
Soyuz Transports Cosmonauts and Astronauts
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090513/sc_nm/us_space_russia_usa
Russia to charge NASA $51 million per space flight
http://www.russiatoday.ru/Top_News/2009-05-14/Inflation_beefs_up_price_tag_for_ISS_trips.html
Inflation beefs up price tag for ISS trips
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2009/05/nasa_will_slash_900_space_shut.html
NASA will slash 900 space shuttle jobs in Florida by September
http://tvnz.co.nz/technology-news/russia-charge-more-per-space-flight-2740667
Russia to charge more per space flight
http://www.tennvalleycorridor.org/news/digest_detail.html?digest_date=2004-10-11
Program Looks To Find More Rocket Scientists
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090513/sc_nm/us_space_russia_usa
Russia to charge NASA $51 million per space flight By Conor Sweeney Conor
Sweeney Wed May 13, 10:27 am ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russia will charge U.S. astronauts $51 million per return
trip to the International Space Station (ISS) from 2012 and will resume
selling seats to space tourists, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday.
NASA needs to use the Russian Soyuz capsule because its own Space Shuttle will
be retired next year after nearly 3 decades in service and a replacement is
not due until 2014 at the earliest.
Russia's own plans for a new spacecraft are running behind schedule, with the
planned unveiling of a mock-up now delayed by a year to 2010, Interfax quoted
Anatoly Perminov head of Russian space agency Roskosmos as saying.
"We've agreed with our American partners the sum of $51m, starting in 2012,"
Perminov was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency.
He did not specify how much astronauts will be charged between 2010 and 2012,
but in 2006 Russia charged the United States $21.8 million per return flight
to the ISS. Since then the price for of a space tourist ticket to the ISS has
climbed to $35 million from $20 million.
Roskosmos earlier said that U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi's March flight to
the ISS would be the last by a space tourist as a doubling of the space
station crew to six would leave no room for amateurs.
But as Kazakhstan has canceled its plans to send a trained cosmonaut into
space this September, the Soyuz now has one free seat, Perminov was quoted as
saying. He said the tourist would not be the last.
"This form of tourism will continue," Perminov was quoted by Itar-Tass as
saying.
NASA and all other partners will be solely dependent on Russia for crew
transport after the shuttle ceases operations.
NASA plans to replace the shuttles with Apollo-style capsules that in addition
to traveling to the space station will be able to fly astronauts to the moon's
surface.
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http://www.russiatoday.ru/Top_News/2009-05-14/Inflation_beefs_up_price_tag_for_ISS_trips.html
Inflation beefs up price tag for ISS trips
14 May, 2009, 17:07
Starting 2012, NASA will pay $51 million for each astronaut delivered to the
International Space Station via Russian spacecraft.
The price was amended due to inflation, as Aleksey Krasnov, head of the human
space-flight program of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, told journalists
on Wednesday. He didn t mention the current price, but said it is reviewed
from time to time to reflect changes in the exchange rate.
NASA will have no manned space capabilities of its own once the Space Shuttle
is retired next year. The replacement Ares I/Orion system is not expected to
be ready at least until 2014, so during the gap the US space agency will buy
trips from Russia to run their mission to the International Space Station.
Read more
Krasnov said commercial tickets to the ISS will also rise in price.
The last space tourist US billionaire Charles Simonyi's paid $30 million to
travel to the ISS in March.
Earlier Roscosmos said that Simonyi s trip will be the last for a space
tourist, since after the crew of the ISS is doubled the station will have no
room for non-professionals. However this policy may change.
The agency s head Anatoly Perminov asked Roman Romanenko to assess the
feasibility of permanently keeping three Russian cosmonauts in orbit. "This is
very important, because it s about big money," ITAR-TASS news agency quotes
him as saying. Romanenko will go to the ISS on the next Soyuz spacecraft to be
launched from Baikonur cosmodrome.
If Russia decides to have only two people onboard, there will be a spot for
private participants with enough cash to spare at least until the Russian
segment of the station is expanded with the MRM-2 module.
One place is vacant even now, after Kazakhstan refused to send its
professional space explorer this September. The names of the candidates to
replace him are to be revealed after May 25. At the moment, people from four
countries have applied for the flight.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2009/05/nasa_will_slash_900_space_shut.html
NASA will slash 900 space shuttle jobs in Florida by September Posted by
sspires May 01, 2009 06:25AM
HUNTSVILLE, AL -- About 900 space shuttle workers in Florida are facing
layoffs between now and September as the shuttle program slides into its final
phase of flight, with eight shuttle flights remaining on NASA's mission
manifest over the next 13 months.
NASANASA will start laying off workers at Kennedy Space Center today.
No shuttle layoffs have been reported in Huntsville. Most of that work has
been moved to the planned shuttle replacement - the Ares I.
"Tomorrow, we have a layoff of about 160 people on the team," shuttle Program
Manager John Shannon told major news organizations Thursday.
"Between tomorrow and the end of September, we will reduce the program by
about 900 people."
Members of Congress have moved to put an additional $2.5 billion into the
fiscal year 2010 budget - now being debated on Capitol Hill - but that money
would pay for two more flights and could slide the retirement date by about a
year. The shuttle program has hardware for about three more flights.
There are about 15,000 jobs across the nation tied to the shuttle program.
About 1,000 of those are in North Alabama, with Marshall Space Flight Center
having about 350 federal employees working on the shuttle program.
The Florida layoffs "are primarily manufacturing team members," Shannon said.
"We have delivered the last pieces of hardware that those team members produce
and we don't keep them on the roles. And that is in order to get our budget
down to the marks and the assumptions we made early on.
So we will start tomorrow and continue with the workforce reduction we had
outlined."
The shuttle was first launched April 12, 1981. Its final flight is now planned
for May 31, 2010
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http://tvnz.co.nz/technology-news/russia-charge-more-per-space-flight-2740667
Russia to charge more per space flight
Published: 11:34PM Friday May 15, 2009
Russia will charge US astronauts US$51 million ($86 million) per return trip
to the International Space Station (ISS) from 2012 and will resume selling
seats to space tourists, Russian news agencies reported.
NASA needs to use the Russian Soyuz capsule because its own Space Shuttle will
be retired next year after nearly three decades in service and a replacement
is not due until 2014 at the earliest.
Russia's own plans for a new spacecraft are running behind schedule, with the
planned unveiling of a mock-up now delayed by a year to 2010, Interfax quoted
Anatoly Perminov head of Russian space agency Roskosmos as saying.
"We've agreed with our American partners the sum of $51m, starting in 2012,"
Perminov was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency.
He did not specify how much astronauts will be charged between 2010 and 2012,
but in 2006 Russia charged the United States US$21.8 million ($37
million) per return flight to the ISS.
Since then the price for of a space tourist ticket to the ISS has climbed to
US$35 million from US$20 million.
Roskosmos earlier said that US billionaire Charles Simonyi's March flight to
the ISS would be the last by a space tourist as a doubling of the space
station crew to six would leave no room for amateurs.
But as Kazakhstan has cancelled its plans to send a trained cosmonaut into
space this September, the Soyuz now has one free seat, Perminov was quoted as
saying.
He said the tourist would not be the last.
"This form of tourism will continue," Perminov was quoted by Itar-Tass as
saying.
NASA and all other partners will be solely dependent on Russia for crew
transport after the shuttle ceases operations.
NASA plans to replace the shuttles with Apollo-style capsules that in addition
to travelling to the space station will be able to fly astronauts to the
moon's surface.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.tennvalleycorridor.org/news/digest_detail.html?digest_date=2004-10-11
Program Looks To Find More Rocket Scientists
Ninety students enjoy annual 'Adventures in Engineering' program Huntsville
Times, Rebecca Sallee September 28, 2004
High school juniors with an interest in engineering spent Wednesday with their
"hands on" government simulators much like their video games at home.
The students also enjoyed a slide/video presentation and lecture from
astronaut Michael Foale during the fourth annual "Adventures in Engineering"
program.
Co-sponsored by the Army Space and Missile Defense Association, the National
Defense Industrial Association and the University of Alabama in Huntsville,
the program's purpose is "to plant the seed that there is some very
interesting work in engineering and science here in town - opportunities they
ought to consider," said Pete Cerny, deputy technical director for ASMDA's
ground-based missile defense system.
Planners of the program work with the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce and
guidance counselors in all public and private high schools in Madison County
(including home-based schools) in selecting participants, Cerny said..
About 90 students and 12 chaperones took part in Wednesday's whirlwind tour of
UAH, Army Aviation and Missile Command, Strategic Missile Defense Command,
Missile and Space Intelligence Center, Marshall Space Flight Center and the
U.S. Space & Rocket Center. The program's aim is to help stem the brain drain
of students leaving the area or choosing fields other than engineering for
their careers.
NASA officials are concerned there won't be enough young talent coming through
the ranks to replace retiring scientists and technicians.
Jeff Huntley, a 16-year-old junior at Madison Academy, could some day fill one
of those empty spots. He is considering a veterinary and medical engineering
career and hopes to attend Auburn University.
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