NASA eyes buying Japan's cargo spacecraft

I first saw this link in a criticism of outsourcing. Considering the dependence we have on the Russian space program, I don't have any complaints with giving some business to a good ally.

NASA has decreed that outdated Shuttle must be parked in 2010, whether we have a replacement available or not. I expect that as we get closer to that date, they will have a change of heart and keep at least 2 shuttles available for a reduced schedule of flights.

There are many problems at NASA, but we currently have no other alternatives in the important work of developing space. Congress should look at creating a regulatory and tax environment that makes private exploration & exploitation of space economically attractive.

NASA eyes buying Japan's cargo spacecraft: report - Yahoo! News:
"TOKYO (Reuters) - NASA has began unofficial negotiations with Japan's space agency on purchasing units of an unmanned cargo transfer spacecraft as the successor to its space shuttles, the Yomiuri newspaper said on Sunday.

Such a deal would be the biggest in Japan's 50-year space development history, the paper added.

The H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV), which costs about 14 billion yen ($131 million) each, is being developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and domestic companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Mitsubishi Electric Corp, the Yomiuri said.

Behind the move is NASA's concern that the retirement of its space shuttles in 2010 will make it difficult for the U.S. to fulfill its responsibilities to deliver water, food and materials for scientific experiments to the International Space Station, the paper said.

In April, NASA started a project to assist U.S. companies' development of a spacecraft to succeed the space shuttle, but it is uncertain whether the successor could be developed in the two years left before the retirement, and that prompted NASA to discuss buying foreign spacecraft, the paper said."