Official RSC Energia Press Release about a visit of US Congress House of Representatives delegation to S.P. Korolev RSC Energia

A
delegation from the House of Representatives of the US
Congress headed by Congressman James Walsh has visited
this afternoon S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation
Energia.

James Walsh is the Chairman of a House of Representatives subcommittee, which oversees appropriation of funds for US governmental agencies including NASA.

The
delegation also included congressmen A. Mollohan, R. Cramer,
C. Meek, (members of the same subcommittee), as well as
D. Rohrabacher (Science Committee member).
Officials who were accompanying the congressional delegation included NASA Administrator D. Goldin with his deputies A. Haffernan, J. Schumacher, M.Kerwin, NASA representatives in Moscow D. McSweeney and M.Backer, Deputy US Ambassador to Russia J.Ordway, science attachÈ D.Linly, military attachÈ of the US Embassy F.Cloti, Second Secretary of the US Embassy R.Garverik (science and technology section), representatives of the US Department of Defense, members of the Subcommittee staff, of Congressman J. Walsh staff, of subcommittees on space and aeronautics, of Appropriations Committee, Assistant US Air Force AttachÈ J.Laas, other specialists and interpreters.

The
delegation arrived to S.P.Korolev RSC Energia together
with a team of managers from the Russian Aerospace Agency
(Rosaviacosmos), headed by the Agency’s Director General
Yu.N. Koptev.

The
purpose of the visit was predicated on the important role
Russia plays as equal partner in the International Space
Station (ISS) project and the responsibility of S.P. Korolev
RSC Energia as the prime contractor for the ISS Russian
Segment (RS), and consisted in obtaining a first-hand
knowledge at the Corporation itself on the progress of
work under the project.

The Congressmen and the attending officials were shown a ground electrical analog of Service Module Zvezda, the work the company conducts on the ISS RS docking module, on manned and cargo transfer vehicles Soyuz TM and Progress M1, and on other products that undergo manufacturing and integrated testing at the Corporation’s production units, including space upper stages Block DM and Block DM-SL, and a ground electrical analog of Yamal-100 communications satellite.

After the guests got acquainted with the history and manufacturing activities of the company, there was an exchange of views about how Russia meets its commitments under the ISS project.

Rosaviacosmos Director General Yu.N. Koptev explained to the congressmen the reasons why ISS RS deployment lagged behind the schedule: underfunding and delays in providing the actual funds on the part of the government, as well as the need to conduct additional developmental testing of the launch vehicle to assure reliable insertion of Zvezda module into orbit.

S.P. Korolev RSC Energia President and Designer General Yu.P. Semenov told about the current status of the project and pointed out that the Corporation together with its subcontractors were doing their best to meet the schedule of ISS RS activities, and did not in any way oppose it to activities on space station Mir conducted together with MIRCORP Company. At the same time, Yu.P. Semenov made a firm statement that provision of funds for the work on the ISS RS from the Russian Federation budget is an absolute prerequisite for completing this work.

Congressmen,
in the person of J. Walsh, expressed a high opinion of
the progress of work on ISS in Russia with the prime role
of S.P. Korolev RSC Energia, and noted the highest level
of professionalism of the company’s employees.
The congressional delegation visit lasted more than two hours, which was almost twice as long as originally planned.