WASHINGTON. Feb 9 (Interfax-AVN) - The U.S. Congress is likely to allow NASA to prolong a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) on purchasing seats in Russian Soyuz spacecraft for flights of U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
"It is extremely unlikely that Congress would try to ban the purchase of Soyuz flights," Bill Nelson, a senator from Florida, told Interfax.
The senator expects that once a U.S. alternative to the Soyuz becomes available it will stop buying Soyuz services.
However, "the Soyuz is the only vehicle that can serve as a 'life boat' on the ISS for the immediate future," Nelson said.
It is expected that U.S. shuttle fleet will be scrapped after 2010. The United States plans on using Russian services until 2016, when the flights of new U.S. spacecraft Orion are expected to take place. NASA and Roscosmos now have an agreement on space flights for U.S. astronauts signed until mid-2012.