USA: WASHINGTON: NASA ADMINISTRATOR DAN GOLDIN PRESS CONFERENCE скачать в хорошем качестве

USA: WASHINGTON: NASA ADMINISTRATOR DAN GOLDIN PRESS CONFERENCE

(25 Jul 1997) English/Nat The head of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) says the Russian Mir space station has taught NASA useful lessons it can use in future space exploration missions. Goldin also said despite his confidence in America's Russian counterparts in the mission, the Russian government's wavering support of its own space program does raise some doubt. Dan Goldin made the comments, on Thursday, to a United States Senate subcommittee on Capitol Hill, Washington DC. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin told a US Senate subcommittee that despite its many problems, the Russian Mir space station can be used as a learning experience for its next space station project. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I can't begin to overemphasise what we have learned and we're going through a process right now of documenting the different things we have learned. We believe we are going to have a much space station as a result of the experiences we have on Mir." SUPER CAPTION: Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator. Mir, which has one British-born American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts aboard, is still recovering from its most recent calamity - a collision with a cargo ship last month that ruptured one of six modules and caused the station to lose half its power. Goldin told the committee he had confidence in America's Russian counterparts in the mission. But he said the Russian government's wavering support of its own space program does raise some doubt. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I believe that the Russian space agency has been doing a superb job on the international space station and their contractors. The problem is the government at times has not done what it said it would do on the funding and in that sense if the Russian government does not continue the funding which now has restarted, that will be the biggest potential problem." SUPER CAPTION: Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator. However, Goldin reminded the committee that risks and occasional problems are inherent to space travel. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I would like to dispel the view that the international space station is going to be clean and white and perfect with guard rails and everything else. We are going to have problems on the international space station." SUPER CAPTION: Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator. But he warned leaders not to let fear over such hazards hold NASA back from exploring previously uncharted territory. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Now we can't guarantee 100 percent safety and if we have to do that, we ought to not put people in place." SUPER CAPTION: Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator. Freed from major repair duties, the accident-prone crew of the Mir space station were, on Thursday, able to study plants and sleep patterns in preparation for the return to Earth next month of the two Russian cosmonauts. The Russian Space Agency director, Yuri Koptev, said on Thursday that last month's accident caused between 17 (m) million and 22 (m) million U-S dollars worth of damage. He suggested the government reduce its planned budget cuts to the space program so the holes in the Spektr scientific module can be fixed without further dents to the Mir's battered funding. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...