ISS to be cut back

Plans for International Space Station Cut Back

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?
type=scienceNews&storyID=5760880\

"The agreement means the station will never support long duration
crews of seven astronauts, as intended, but will be able to house at
least four astronauts starting in 2009, said NASA's deputy
administrator, Fred Gregory. He was speaking to reporters by
teleconference from Noordwijk, The Netherlands, where space agency
heads met this week.

"This action reflects a year of painstaking work, a lot of hard
work," Gregory said.

Publicly, NASA's international partners have expressed support for a
space initiative of President Bush, which calls for ending the U.S.
shuttle program and curtailing involvement in the space station in
favor of plans to explore the moon and Mars.

Privately, they have voiced the opinion that the United States is
not living up to its commitments."

You know, when the above quote makes reference to the painstaking
work of *negotiation* rather than the substance of space
development, it is a sure sign that the institutional values are
misdirected. Publically patting the international administrators and
negotiators on the back is a sign of the blindness to the malady.

TangoMan