DATE=9/7/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=SHUTTLE-OVERVIEW
NUMBER=5-46981
BYLINE=DAVID MCALARY
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
INTERNET=
VOICED AT:
/// ATT: PRODUCERS, THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE ACT IS
AVAILABLE IN FULL AT THE END OF THE FEED ///
/// EDS: Shuttle launch is scheduled for Friday, 9/8,
8:45 a.m. EDT. This script is written for use until
the spacewalk begins, currently scheduled for Monday,
9/10, 1:05 a.m. EDT based on an on-time launch ///
INTRO: The U-S space shuttle Atlantis is set to lift
off [has lifted off] from Florida on a mission to the
International Space Station. V-O-A Science
Correspondent David McAlary tells us that the task
facing the crew is to get the station ready for its
first full time residents later this year.
TEXT: After 16 years of planning and preparation, a U-
S astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are to settle
in for a four-month stay at the station beginning in
November. To prepare their way, a Russian Progress
rocket flew up supplies in August. Now, the shuttle
mission brings five astronauts and two cosmonauts to
transfer the supplies and prepare the living quarters
- the Russian Zvezda module -- which docked to the
station in July.
/// CABANA TEASER ACT ///
With the addition of the Zvezda module, we've
almost doubled the size of our space station.
/// END ACT ///
Bob Cabana [kuh-BAA-nuh] is the U-S space agency
official responsible for international operations
aboard the space station. He says the shuttle crew
has a lot of work to do on the 11-day mission to make
Zvezda livable.
/// CABANA ACT ///
So they're really going to be busy, primarily
unloading the Progress, transferring equipment
to the prepare the space station for the crew
when it arrives -- essentially transferring some
hygiene items; setting up the toilet, computers,
cables; putting the treadmill in, getting it
operating -- saving the crew a lot of work once
they get up there so they will be ready to go as
soon as they arrive.
/// END ACT ///
The shuttle mission also features a spacewalk by a U-S
and a Russian member of the crew to install
communications cables between Zvezda and the Russian
Zarya module and a compass on Zvezda.
Despite the work of this shuttle mission, the first
Zvezda crew must do more to make it ready for the team
that replaces it next. It is the subsequent crews
that will perform full-time scientific research. The
U-S space agency's lead station flight director -- Jim
Van Laak [LACK] -- says the job of the first crew will
be to put the finishing touches on setting the station
up.
/// VAN LAAK ACT ///
When the first crew arrives, they're going to
take delivery of basically an infant station.
It will not be fully outfitted. Not all the
systems will be operational. They will have
quite a bit of work to do over the first few
weeks getting those systems activated and
reconfiguring the station, stowing things in
permanent locations, finding their own home, so
to speak.
/// END ACT ///
The schedule calls for the United States and Russia to
add new modules and equipment and to ferry cargo and
people continuously to the station during construction
over the next five years. But whether the Russians
can afford to carry out their commitment, however, is
still in question.
Zvezda was two years overdue because of Moscow's
budget shortages and Russian space officials say their
funding problems are not over. The Finance Ministry
has not released money for 2001, and the Russian space
agency's chief of piloted programs -- Mikhail
Sinelshikov [sih-NEL-shee-kawf] - says getting it will
be difficult.
/// SINELSHIKOV ACT - BEGINS IN RUSSIAN, FADES
TO ENGLISH TRANSLATION ///
We have managed to comply with the requirements
as far as the year 2000 goes. Currently we are
working very hard on the financing for the years
2001-2002. At the same time I would like to
take this opportunity to assure all of you that
we fully understand the importance of all these
activities and we will do everything in our
power to comply with the requirements and not
let down our partners.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Sinelshikov told reporters at the U-S Johnson
Space Center in Houston, Texas that obtaining the
necessary Russian space program funding is a very ugly
process. (SIGNED)
NEB/DEM/KBK
07-Sep-2000 14:24 PM EDT (07-Sep-2000 1824 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
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