Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Veteran astronaut begs NASA to keep space shuttle

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Veteran astronaut John Glenn today questioned the decision to retire the space shuttle fleet and rely on Russia to take astronauts to the International Space Station. "We have a vehicle here, why throw it away? It's working well," the first American to orbit Earth said.

He said he was against paying the Russians $55.8m (about £38m) a person to fly to the station.

"Being, in effect, under control of Russia for our space programme just doesn't sit right with me and I don't think it sits well with the American people," said Glenn, 88, a former senator who rode the shuttle into orbit in 1998 at the age of 77.

Glenn said little if any money would be saved by cancelling the shuttle program, considering all the millions of dollars going to Russia for rocket rides. At least two shuttle flights a year could keep the station going and the workforce employed, until something new came along, he said.

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