Boris Yeltsin's 1989 trip to a US grocery store impresses more than NASA

Tig

Tig

Fucktangular
http://blog.chron.com/thetexican/20...nt-grocery-shopping-in-clear-lake/#22200101=0

At JSC, Yeltsin visited mission control and a mock-up of a space station. According to Houston Chronicle reporter Stefanie Asin, it wasn’t all the screens, dials, and wonder at NASA that blew up his skirt, it was the unscheduled trip inside a nearby Randall’s location.

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About a year after the Russian leader left office, a Yeltsin biographer later wrote that on the plane ride to Yeltsin’s next destination, Miami, he was despondent. He couldn’t stop thinking about the plentiful food at the grocery store and what his countrymen had to subsist on in Russia.


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IIRC it was that trip to the Grocery store that led the Russians to the conclusion they couldn't continue on the path they were on fighting the Cold War (it was shortly after this that the Wall came down).
 
What's interesting is what may be on the horizon.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/03/us/us-russia-relations-nasa/index.html
NASA to end most activities with Russia
(CNN) -- NASA is suspending much of its work with Russia in light of its actions in Ukraine but said it will continue to collaborate with Russia's space agency on International Space Station operations.

The decision by the U.S. space agency to halt "the majority of its ongoing engagements" with Russia's Roscosmos comes amid heightened tensions sparked by Russia's annexation last month of Ukraine's southern Crimea region.

A statement sent out by NASA on Wednesday said the U.S. space agency was acting "given Russia's ongoing violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

But, the statement said, it will continue to work with Roscosmos to "maintain safe and continuous operation of the International Space Station."

In 2011, NASA retired its space shuttle fleet, its only means of getting to and from the station. Now, Russian Soyuz capsules ferry U.S. astronauts and cosmonauts, together with supplies that can fit in the smaller craft.

In its statement, NASA appealed for more funding from Congress to help it resume manned American space flights.

"NASA is laser focused on a plan to return human spaceflight launches to American soil, and end our reliance on Russia to get into space," it said.

"This has been a top priority of the Obama Administration's for the past five years, and had our plan been fully funded, we would have returned American human spaceflight launches -- and the jobs they support -- back to the United States next year.

"With the reduced level of funding approved by Congress, we're now looking at launching from U.S. soil in 2017. The choice here is between fully funding the plan to bring space launches back to America or continuing to send millions of dollars to the Russians. It's that simple."

The U.S. space agency's decision to suspend many activities comes in the same week that 28-member defense bloc NATO said it was ending cooperation with Russia over its activities in Ukraine.

Western leaders have condemned Russia's annexation of Crimea as a violation of international law and called on Moscow to pull back the tens of thousands of troops it has massed near Ukraine's eastern border.

Russia says its forces are there to take part in military exercises and will return to base when those are finished.

It's Russia's move. It will be interesting to see how they handle this. Without going into a political discussion, I'm hoping this will nudge Nasa into getting our astronauts back into space without Russian help. I've always hated that. Maybe SpaceX can get some additional funding.
 
Steverino said:
It's Russia's move. It will be interesting to see how they handle this. Without going into a political discussion, I'm hoping this will nudge Nasa into getting our astronauts back into space without Russian help. I've always hated that. Maybe SpaceX can get some additional funding.
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It is a shame what happened to our manned space flight program. I used to work at JSC in the 90's and every year our budget was cut a little bit more. NASA is an easy target for budget cutters. Expensive programs with no immediate returns in their eyes. I always hated that we rely on the Russians for getting us there and back. The astronauts are not a fan of that plan either.

Space X is entirely private. To my knowlege, the get no funding from the government, which means they will be able to charge whatever they want once they prove they can do it.

Edit: As far as it being Russia's move, I really don't think they give a shit about us, or what we think of their invasion of Crimea.
 
It's hard to get backing for anything that takes longer than their congressional term.
 
shoeless said:
Space X is entirely private. To my knowlege, the get no funding from the government, which means they will be able to charge whatever they want once they prove they can do it.

Edit: As far as it being Russia's move, I really don't think they give a shit about us, or what we think of their invasion of Crimea.
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I wouldn't be surprised if the cost for an American astronaut to hitch a ride on the Soyuz goes up. And if SpaceX charges whatever they want, it'd still be better than paying the Russians.
 
Yeah, this situation is a great example of why depending on the Russians to get our guys up and down is a terrible idea. Well, one reason for it anyway...

I hope it will get us back on a faster track to get our own capabilities back. Cripes, it sounds like our space program needs vie-agra. :facepalm:
 
Maybe Yeltsin was depressed because in 1989 Randall's didn't sell liquor of any kind.

SpaceX is private, but they were provided money by NASA to put toward developing the cargo and crew space vehicles, and they were also paid as they reached various milestones. To put the development of the US crew vehicle on the fast track is probably going to require more money from NASA. Otherwise we're still looking at the end of 2017.

And I would expect the price on the Soyuz seats to go up, but all the seats up through 2017 have already been contracted at an agreed price.
 
Didn't Yeltsin cause a thing about walking through the streets of Washington while drunk or something like that?
 
Elias Graves said:
Didn't Yeltsin cause a thing about walking through the streets of Washington while drunk or something like that?
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LOL, drunk, in his underwear, outside the White House while trying to hail a cab to go get pizza.

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Someone should make that a gif
 
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