U.S. and Russian leaders met last month to hammer out plans for getting Russian participation in the space station on track as NASA discussed delaying space station construction for up to six months.
     At a summit meeting in Washington last week, U.S. Vice President Al Gore met with his Russian counterpart, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, and discussed what actions were required by both countries to end months of delays in construction of the Service Module, a key Russian-built module for the station.
     The agreement included a "checklist" of tasks and when they needed to be included. More importantly, it included $20 million in American funds advanced to the Russians to restart construction of the Service Module.
     The funds, described by some as an "emergency loan" are an advance on monies that would have been paid later to Russia as part of its participation in the space station project.
     "We went over, in intricate detail, exactly what flows of money have to go to which players and which contractors in Russia by which dates," Gore told reporters on February 8. "I think that the assurances now are backed up by a practical checklist of which dates and which amounts, and I hope it's going to work."
     However, just days after the meeting, NASA Administrator Dan Goldin told a House committee that NASA is considering delaying the launch of the space station's first module by up to six months, to let Russian efforts catch up.
     "We would not irresponsibly launch [the first modules of the station] if we felt the Service Module would not be there," Goldin said.
     The Service Module provides propulsion to keep the station in orbit. Without it any station modules could only last a year in orbit before burning up in the Earth's atmosphere.
     NASA is now considering a Russian-built module instead of an American one to serve as an interim module if the Service Module is further delayed. The FGB-2 module is similar to the FGB cargo block module that Russia is scheduled to launch late this year. It could provide stationkeeping duties and be refueled by the shuttle.
     It is one of the many options we are looking at," NASA spokesperson Debra Rahn told Reuters. "We have made no final decisions."
     Last month, NASA was considering an Interim Control Module based on a Naval Research Laboratories design used to place spysats into orbit. A final decision is expected by the end of the month, which will depend on the status of Russian construction of the Service Module.

According to NASA officials, plans for a "Space Summit" that would bring together members of Congress and the Clinton administration to discuss NASA funding have been canceled.
     In a statement published February 13 on NASA's Code Z Web site, the stable funding planned for NASA over the next several years has negated the need for the summit.
     "White House and Congressional leadership have agreed that the President's FY 1998 budget profile provides stability to NASA's budget, and the space summit is no longer required," the statement read.
     President Clinton announced plans for a space summit on August 7, the same day NASA scientists announced their evidence for possible past life on Mars. Vice President Gore was to lead efforts to bring together members of Congress and the Clinton administration to discuss priorities for NASA.
     Before Clinton's announcement, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) had written letters urging such a summit be held. She had expressed concern about the then-declining NASA budget and NASA's funding priorities, including plans to sharply cut the number of NASA employees and contractors.
     Earlier this month, Mikulski reportedly wrote Gore and said the summit was no longer necessary since NASA's budget for the next several years had stabilized.
     Although the summit was not held, a "pre-Summit Symposium" was held at the White House in early December, which Gore attended. A panel of scientists discussed research priorities for the agency, with an emphasis on NASA's "Origins" program of seeking to understand the formation of the universe and solar system and life on Earth and possibly other worlds.

The Space Frontier Foundation trumpeted a study last week which showed the NASA is "discouraging, and at times even sabotaging" efforts by American firms to do business in space.
     "The line NASA's PR machine puts out about supporting commercial firms in space is a joke," Rick Tumlinson, president of the foundation, said in a press release. "Not only are these turf-driven bureaucrats costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by doing things that American industry could be doing cheaper, better, faster, they are costing the nation our future on the frontier."
     Tumlinson based him claims on the results of a $400,000 study by the non-partisan Potomac Institute. The study was reportedly ordered by a former NASA manager of space station commercialization efforts.
     The report is based on more than 150 interviews with firms that have attempted to do space station-related business with NASA. The companies ranged from entrepreneurial startups to Johnson and Johnson.
     According to the report, the companies were "almost universally" negative about NASA's commercialization efforts.
     "There's a reason there is no economic boom in space: NASA's bureaucracy has killed it." Tumlinson said. "The great irony here is that the agency shouldn't be trying to run the space station at all. It should be handed to the private sector to turn into an economic and scientific research and development center."