Europe Wants Its Own Spaceship

Long relegated to a supporting role, the European Space Agency has decided that it wants a more prominent position on the final frontier. Encouraged by ESA's intention to seek independence access to space, EADS Astrium, a European consortium, has proposed a new manned space vehicle based on the Autonomous Transfer Vehicle now used to resupply the International Space Station.

NASA no longer believes that the ISS is its top priority. As soon as it is able, America will wash its hands of the entire affair and leave much of the operation of the orbital facility in the hands of its international partners. The goal these days is the implementation of the Vision for Space Exploration, also known as Project Constellation, a task that demands a shift in focus from low Earth orbit to the development of a replacement vehicle for the Space Shuttle that will be capable of returning Americans to the Moon.

But, while NASA's increasingly Constellation-centric agenda has pleased those who have made no secret of their disappointment with the ISS, it is perceived as a slap in the face of international agencies that have spent considerable energy -- decades, in some cases -- planning their own efforts and budgets around the much-delayed station. Japan, for instance, has invested billions in its centerpiece Kibo space module to be lofted this weekend aboard the Shuttle. Kibo, an ISS component so massive that it requires three Shuttle flights to orbit, has a lifetime significantly longer than the remaining commitment NASA is willing to devote to the Station. NASA prefers to spend its hard-fought budget on its Orion and Ares space vehicles and as such will phase out the Shuttle by 2010.

The EADS proposal would eventually give the continent the means to independently send humans into outer space.

See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7419793.stm