Should ISS have been USS?

[Fury]

Deputies in the State Duma lower house overwhelmingly approved an appeal to Putin, saying Russia should keep Mir flying if the United States went ahead with controversial plans to create a missile defense shield .
 
"The need to maintain the orbiter has been confirmed...by the U.S. decision already taken for all intents and purposes to create a national missile defense system," the Duma said in a statement.

Deputies also expressed doubts about Russia's participation in the International Space Station (ISS), which they say forced the cash-strapped government to withdraw funding to Mir.
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Hindsight is 20/20 but was it too much to expect the ISS could really be "International"?  As much as cooperation is nice, countries do things differently.  Were the Russians brought on board for publicity, techical knowledge, or money?  Sure, this appeal doesn't really mean anything official, but tensions have been tight ever since Russia was so late in getting their piece up there.  Doesn't this type of talk strain the "International" Space Station even more?  Can Mir stay up there another 10 years until (if) we every get this magical "missle defense system" or is it all political mumbo-jumbo?

Fury

[TheWobble]

 

Russia's participation in the International Space Station (ISS), which they say forced the cash-strapped government to withdraw funding to Mir.

Mir is coming down because its old/outdated, crowded DANGEROUS pile of jusnk that would cost more to "fix" than it would to build another.

if its going to be op there because of the "missle defence system" why? what could/would/should it do??

[This message has been edited by TheWobble (edited 02-21-2001).]

[Tac]

Why, MIR is to become the missile defense system's first target drone.

Fire the thrusters at just the right angle, and watch that old space station begin its ballistic dive towards the white house.

If clinton hasn't taken the rest of the house with him that is.  

[Soda]

How much $$ did the US put into the ISS, how much $$ did Russia put in?  You really didn't think the US would give up control of something they will pour more than 80 billion into getting up there.

Mir was a great engineering triumph, but it is old, crowded, and unsafe (to live on and to have come crashing down).  It's time to let it go before a more serious accident tarnishes it's memory.

Without Mir though, the russians really don't have an ability to perform larg'ish experiments in space anymore, it's not like they have a space-craft with room inside to work in like the US shuttle.  I think that worries them.

-Soda

[miko2d]

 Let's see...

 Ecology going down the drain. Life expectancy of a third-world country and dropping. Population dropping and aging at such an alarming rate that lawmakers are considering legalizing polygamy. Traditional rampant alchoholism augmented by recently introduced narcotics spreading rapidly.
 Pissed off muslim fundamentalists inside and outside crying for blood.
 No chance for any of those problems to even start improving in the next few generations (short of a Tzar coming to power and bringing some order).

 So why the hell would russians need a state of the art space lab for the futuristic experiments? Just to show off in front of americans? They've already lost that one during the cold war. The population lacks such basic amenities that their life could be improved with much more bang for the buck on the ground, if anybody cared in their government.

miko

[funked]

ISS is basically a welfare program for the Russian space program.  If they don't want to play anymore... BUH BYE.

[TheWobble]

 

Without Mir though, the russians really don't have an ability to perform larg'ish experiments in space anymore

Every time they go up there all they can do is try to fix it and not DIE, mir is to trashed and decaying too fast that the only thing that can be done, is trying to stay alive and keep that orbiting beer can together for 1 more orbit.  There is no room or time for exparaments in it any more.