Space Program for Sale

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Other American officials, however, look upon the Russian space program as an emporium holding an irresistible bankruptcy sale. It is perhaps the most desirable technological treasure trove the former Soviet Union has to offer. Says a senior Bush Administration official: "We wanted to steal some of this stuff a few years ago." The erstwhile Soviets are world leaders in rocket propulsion and space power plants. "They are way ahead of us in materials and nuclear power, and there is eagerness to do business over there," says Joe Wetch, the president of International Scientific Products, a San Jose firm attempting to market Soviet space technology in the U.S. To miss the opportunity, he adds, "is insane."

Several big-ticket items on NASA's wish list are currently available from the Russians at rock-bottom prices. Among them: the Energia rocket, which can lift more than three times the space shuttle's 30-ton payload; the most advanced liquid-fueled rocket motors in existence; and a space-ready nuclear reactor that could extend the life and lower the cost of communication and weather satellites. In addition, the Russians are offering the services of a Soyuz spacecraft for use as a rescue vehicle for U.S. shuttle crews, plus a superior system for enabling space ships to rendezvous and dock. Also tempting to U.S. space scientists is an impressive data base -- gathered by Soviet physiologists -- on human responses to low gravity.

Making deals on these and other space technologies not only could save the U.S. research money and provide hard currency for the struggling republics but might also stave off disaster for a space program that has fragmented along with its country. Russia owns the rockets and spacecraft, but the main launch center is in Kazakhstan. Crucial aerospace plants and satellite tracking facilities are now the property of Ukraine, Georgia and Uzbekistan. Says Nikolai Semyenov, a spokesman for Glavkosmos, once the central Soviet space agency: "With Kazakhstan we don't have problems. But we don't have any cooperation agreements with the others, and those facilities are lost to us."

Financing the agency's operations has become an enormous problem. Russia still retains about 80% of the program's assets but, says Semyenov, "there is / no financing for the 1992 space program. We have barely enough just to pay wages to the personnel." Ground controllers in Moscow went on a brief, symbolic strike in January to protest low salaries, and construction workers at Baikonur recently rioted in protest of their salaries and inhuman working conditions. The Russian space shuttle, Buran, which was in the final stages of development, has been shelved indefinitely and Mir is nearing the end of its useful lifetime, with no replacement available. Even the long-suffering Krikalev has had to do without one of his few luxuries: fresh honey.

For the moment, the program is lumbering along. There were 59 launches last year, compared with 29 for the rest of the world, and plans are still afoot for a series of unmanned Mars visits in 1994 and 1996 -- at least on paper. "The key test will come at the end of this year, when they've used up all their supplies," says a U.S. government analyst. One promising sign: a new Russian Space Agency was created two weeks ago. Insiders hope it will be able to halt the decline.