UPDATE: NASA has no plans to buy JAXA transfer vehicles

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by William Atkins

Tuesday, 22 July 2008

! As reported by many news sources (but incorrect in their information), NASA announced on July 21, 2008, that the U.S. space agency has no plans to purchase the H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV) from Japan. In fact, NASA has stated it will "depend on [U.S.] commercial resupply of cargo delivery to the station." Related stories Worms in space: NASA confirms International Space Station infected GLAST renamed Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope NASA announces Atlantis roll out to launch pad for Hubble mission NASA reports rocket explosion on Wallops Island August 20: First space pets come home and Voyager 2 launched As reported in the iTWire article "NASA discussing Japanese purchase of robotic cargo vehicles," it was stated that, based on reports from the major national Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun, NASA was "unofficially" in discussions with the Japanese space agency JAXA for the purchase of several H-2 Transfer Vehicles. However, a few moments ago, on Monday, July 21, 2008, NASA released a news release entitled "STATEMENT ON INACCURATE REPORTS ABOUT JAPANESE CARGO SERVICES." The NASA news release (08-181) states, "Contrary to news reports, NASA has not officially or unofficially been discussing the purchase of H-II Transfer Vehicles (HTV) -- uninhabited resupply cargo ships for the space station -- from the Japanese Space Agency, or JAXA." The NASA report continues, "NASA is committed to domestic commercial cargo resupply to the space station and does not plan to procure cargo delivery services from Japan. As part of our original agreements as compensation for common system operating costs NASA has limited cargo capability on the Japanese and European cargo vehicles." And concludes with, "NASA has recently issued a request for proposal for the cargo needs of International Space Station beyond those supplied by our current international agreements. NASA has chosen to depend on commercial resupply of cargo delivery to the station." According to this statement by NASA, it will be using U.S. made commercial vessels to re-supply the International Space Station once the NASA space shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment! Tags See All Tags International Space Station  JAXA  Japan  NASA  Space Shuttle  United States  Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now

 

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