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Russia delays building key space station part
April 3, 1997
Web posted at: 6:40 p.m. ESTFrom Correspondent John Holliman
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- Construction of a key component of the international space station will be delayed at least seven months because of Russian financial woes, CNN has learned.
Without that part, a steering and guidance module, space station managers say it doesn't make sense to send up the first two elements -- a Russian-built "space tug" and a U.S.-built connecting tunnel, both of which are ready.
The first launch of a space station section had been scheduled for November. But CNN was told the launch now probably won't occur until July 1998, at the earliest.
NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin is expected to announce the delay next week.
Officials from NASA and other space agencies involved in construction of the orbiting laboratory say the Russian Space Agency has been strapped for cash for the last two years.
Other parts for the space station, which will be used for medical and technical research, are coming from factories in Japan, Europe and Canada, as well as the United States.
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