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[i]The Russian invasion of Georgia may have claimed an unexpected victim: U.S. access to the international space station. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., acknowledged Tuesday that Russia’s five-day invasion of the Georgian province of South Ossetia makes it extremely unlikely that Congress will vote to exempt the Russian-built Soyuz capsule from a law that bans trade with nations that sell nuclear material to Iran. NASA had been counting on the waiver to enable it to continue carrying people and cargo to the space station after the space shuttle is retired in 2010. The Soyuz is NASA’s only proven alternative to get to the station. “There will be consequences not just for Russia but for the U.S. too,” Nelson said Tuesday of reaction to the invasion. “That’s a $100 billion investment up there that we won’t have access to.” One senior House Republican staffer said the waiver is “dead on arrival. Nobody thinks it’s going to happen, and the reality is there is no back-up plan for the space station.”[/i]
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