At the joint Russian delegation press conference yesterday I recorded my brief question and answer opportunity with FSA/Roscosmos deputy director Vitaly Davidov about the 2011 private spaceflight agreement, the cooperation with South Korea and Soyuz in Kourou
caption: Davidov on the phone prior to the press conference's start
I never got an answer to the third part, maybe that was the translator's mistake, but I didn't get much about Korea or this mooted 2011 flight either
Click here to download a recording of my very brief Q&A at the press conference in Russian and English. The recording begins with the translator asking my questions in Russian and then Davidov's answers, which are translated. The sound qualty varies due to the public address system and background noise - well it is an airshow!
Essentially Davidov said that with six crew the "spaceflight participants" could not go to the station but they were working on how a flight might work with the help of others, but didn't say who they were. On South Korea he simply said that work was underway on the launch site and one of the stage's of the rocket that is being developed jointly
Here are links to Google translated Farnborough air show related statements by the FSA on its website
14-07-2008 Today in London circulated English magazine "Military Parade", on exhibition in Farnborough. He was called Article Roscosmos Chief A. N. Perminova
15-07-2008 FSUE "NPO Lavochkin behalf of SA" at the international aerospace salon "Farnborough Airshow - 2008"
14-07-2008 Space Center named MV Khrunichev in the composition of a joint exhibition Roscosmos for the exhibition in Farnborough-2008 ready
14-07-2008 OAO "ISS" at the exhibition "Farnborough Airshow - 2008"
on July 16, 2008 11:19 PM | Reply
There seems to be some kind of fundamental cultural communications problem whenever it comes to the issue of the Russians selling access to their Soyuz. If you go back eight years to the MirCorp days, you will find plenty of examples of the MirCorp people saying one thing and then the Russians refusing to confirm or deny what MirCorp said. For instance, MirCorp claimed that they had paid their bills, but Energia would say that they never received the check.
This most recent example is not that unusual. The question is what is going on here. Why do the Russians do this?