"The cost of return from the ISS to Earth in a Soyuz has at least tripled from 400 million rubles. This figure was considered at the earlier talks with NASA as the cost of saving one ISS crewman in emergency. The cost of evacuating by Soyuz of three crewmen correspondingly triples", official spokesman for the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos) Vyacheslav Davidenko said on Thursday. And specified that the United States is not yet going to buy manned ships from Russia.
Earlier, Roskosmos proposed to NASA to discuss the funding of making additional Soyuz ships in Russia. After bringing crews to the ISS they become stand-by rescue ships.
Roskosmos chief Anatoli Perminov has said that, as long as two members are in the ISS, one Soyuz is enough for evacuation in case of emergency.
"When the ISS crew increases to six, as provided for in the international agreements, two rescue ships are to be permanently docked for the safety of the entire crew", he explained.
"Some progress has been made. This question has been discussed at the top level and decisions taken to reconsider it before late 2005", Perminov said.
To him, the permission to make additional Soyuz ships in Russia is countered by the United States' law on the non-spread of rocket technologies. A special permission from the American president may also help in settling the matter.
