Paper Session III-A - History of the First NASA Contract with Russia

As part of the FY92 Budget approval, Congress, in its wisdom, directed NASA to investigate the Russian space hardware and determine its feasibility for use in the U.S. space program. At the invitation of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the Russian firm NPO Energia, NASA made a reconnaissance visit to NPO Energia to open discussions concerning Russian space hardware. The trip was successful in that NPO Energia opened their facility and proudly displayed their space hardware, launch capabilities, etc. to NASA. NASA left Russia with a heightened understanding of the desperate situation Russian space firms found themselves in with waning support from their own government. The firm was desperate enough it seemed, to peddle their hardware elsewhere if NASA wasn\u27t a viable customer. It was made crystal clear that the firm could only continue, anything approaching their current seale of operation, with an influx of hard currency from outside Russia