posted 04-29-2007 03:48 PM               

quote:

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The head of Russia's space agency Sunday said the US has rebuffed an offer from Moscow to jointly explore the moon, while announcing a separate contract with NASA for nearly one billion dollars for the International Space Station.

Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency that Russia had proposed pooling resources to explore the moon.

"We were ready to cooperate but for unknown reasons, the United States have said they will undertake this programme themselves," he said.

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posted 05-02-2007 12:02 AM               

quote:

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On Sunday, the Interfax news agency reported that Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, said that Russia had proposed pooling resources to explore the moon. "We were ready to cooperate, but for unknown reasons, the United States have said they will undertake this programme themselves," he said.

But NASA spokesperson Michael Braukus, speaking from the agency's headquarters in Washington, DC, said that NASA has not received such an offer from Russia. "Nothing was offered and nothing was declined," he told New Scientist. "We have not received a moon cooperation offer from Roskomos."

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posted 05-02-2007 10:00 AM               

Or maybe it's a cry for help by the Russians. There are weird things going on over there and you have to wonder which alliances you'd like to form today for tomorrow's sake...