Moscow, Nov 14: Russia's space agency has said it had been promised a shot in the arm of 50 million to keep a lifeline to the International Space Station (ISS), hampered by the grounding of all US space shuttles. Russia has launched all manned and cargo ships to the 16-nation orbital space station since the Columbia disaster in February that killed seven astronauts on board.
''The government decided today to increase spending on space by 1.5 billion Roubles,'' a spokesman for the space agency Rosaviakosmos told reporters yesterday.
''We expected the government to increase investment because Russia is having to send more rockets to the ISS since the US shuttles are out of action,'' he said.
The government, he said, had been waiting to see the state of its finances at the end of the year.
Russian media have reported that Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov had given the finance ministry three days to resolve the allocation of the funds.
The Rosaviakosmos spokesman could not say how much difference the extra money would make to the space programme. To help cover the cost of building new Soyuz craft, the vessels which take crews back and forth to the ISS, Russia already offers space tourists trips to the station for a 20 million fare.
President Vladimir Putin earlier this year promised Russia would provide rockets and funds to keep the ISS in orbit.
Bureau Report