International Space Station (ISS) prime contractor Boeing is to slash 400 ISS-related jobs based at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, following US Government budget cuts. The job losses, from a total 5,000 Boeing workforce, will be divided between contractor and company employees.
NASA has been ordered by the Bush Administration to shave at least $1 billion off the Space station budget, which by 2006 is expected to be $4 billion over the projected $25 billion.
Boeing has been told to expect the habitation and propulsion modules for the ISS to be axed, in addition to other cuts.
Meanwhile, the Space Shuttle Discovery landed at the Kennedy Space Center early on 21 March ending the 13-day STS 102 mission to the ISS, which included the debut of the Italian Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) and the switching of Space Station crews one and two. The next Shuttle mission, in April, will attach components of the Canadian remote manipulator system to the ISS.
NASA is resigned to the fact that Russia will launch space tourist Dennis Tito to the ISS on 30April despite the US agency's strong objections. "Space is fraught with danger and non-professionals have no business being there unless they are thoroughly trained," says the agency.
NASA says Tito would be "a non-professional crew member who is untrained on all critical Station systems unable to respond and assist in any contingency situation that may arise".
Russia is determined to fly Tito - the original Mir Citizen Explorer - who has paid $20 million for his trip on the 10-day mission with two Russian cosmonauts.
The mission is to replace a Soyuz TM emergency return vehicle at the ISS. Russian space agency Rosaviacosmos chief Yuri Koptev says that Tito will fly in April "irrespective of the position of our international partners".
Source: Flight International
