A couple of space related stories from Mosnews have caught my eye over the last couple of days, mainly because they show brilliantly the new face of Russian science - it’s all about the money. True, I guess that’s ultimately what most science is about - even space science from outfits like NASA - but you’ve got to admire the Russians for their complete lack of interest in portraying themselves as anything other than businessmen these days.
First up - or rather third up - is this story about the latest space tourist Gregory Olsen, himself a scientist turned businessman.
Olsen, who has advanced degrees in physics and material sciences, will carry out three medical experiments during his time on the station. He has rejected a description of himself as a “space tourist” — instead he calls himself a “space participant”.
“Tourism implies that anyone can just write a cheque and go up there. That’s not what happened,” Olsen said in an interview before the Soyuz TMA-7 carrying him and two professional astronauts — one American and one Russian — lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.
“Space participant.” Kind of implies that Mr Olsen is up there for the scientific good he can do mankind, and not at all for the view, doesn’t it?
Almost simultaneously, we hear that the Roskosmos - the Russian Space Agency - is no longer prepared to ferry US astronauts to and from the International Space Station unless the NASA ponies up some cold hard cash.
“Russia has met all the engagements on transferring NASA employees to the ISS. Formally, we even do not have to return McArthur to the Earth,” Russia’s space agency Roskosmos senior official Alexey Krasnov said.
This could, however, pose a problem, as current US law prohibits NASA from paying Russia for this service:
The snag is that trade sanctions linked to U.S. fears that Russian technology and know-how could help Iran develop nuclear weapons mean NASA cannot pay Roskosmos.
