Seats on Russian rockets will cost us $490 million

NASA says there was no request Wednesday for extra funding.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden wrote a letter to Congress revealing that the agency will be forced to extend their contract with the Russian government at a sum of $490 million – covering the costs for crew and supplies to be flown back and forth to the global Space Station.

The stubbornness of the U.S. Congress is pushing the launch of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program further into the future, without a deadline in sight.

If Congress goes forward with these cuts, it “would likely result in funds running out for both contractors during the spring/summer of FY 2016”, Bolden said. “This has resulted in continued sole reliance on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft as our crew transport vehicle for American and global partner crews to the ISS”, he explains.

Also on Wednesday, Orbital ATK, one of two companies that fly cargo to the space station under a separate NASA program, said a pair of Russian engines for its refurbished Antares rocket had arrived in the United States. That comes to just about $82 million a seat, up from $71 million a seat. The agency typically purchases six seats a year, according to NASA.

In a paradoxical situation, while the U.S.is enforcing economic sanctions on the Russian Federation over the eastern Ukraine conflict, it still pays for space flights to the ISS rather than funding U.S.-based programs, including the development of SpaceX and Boeing spacecrafts.

The program requires $1.24 billion to reach its goals, Bolden said.

“It is my honest hope that we all agree that the greatest nation on Earth should not be dependent on others to launch humans into space”, he urged, asking Congress to reconsider its funding for the program.