A Message From Mir

In 1993, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration started redesigning the international space station it had begun planning in the late 1960s, President Clinton told NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin to make Russia America’s key partner in the project. In preparation, NASA astronauts were sent to work alongside cosmonauts in Russia’s space station Mir, now 11 years old. After all, Russia had a space station and the United States didn’t.

At the time, it seemed like perfect symbolism, helping a struggling Russia salvage some of its world-power luster. On Wednesday, however, that symbolism went horribly awry when a Russian cargo ship carrying trash and called Progress plowed into Mir, wiping out half the station’s power and all of one module’s air pressure. The three-man crew, including NASA astronaut Michael Foale, seemed safe, and on Thursday officials began planning spacewalks to do repairs.

But just as troubling as the crackup in space is the political euphoria that rushed NASA into a hastily planned partnership that did little to ensure safety aboard Mir.

Others have seen the same thing, and in April, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Science Committee, along with Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D-San Bernardino), introduced legislation requiring Goldin to personally certify that any Russian space equipment used by Americans meets or exceeds U.S. safety standards. The legislation, passed overwhelmingly by the House, is stalled before the Senate Commerce Committee, which ought to take it up on return from its current recess.

In the meantime, Goldin should comply with the letter and spirit of the proposed law, crafting specific plans for beefing up American oversight of the modules Russia is now building for the international space station.

The cost of future U.S. involvement with Mir now seems to outweigh the scientific return: In the last five months alone, the aging outpost has had several crises, from exploding oxygen canisters to cooling system leaks. The United States ought to end its involvement in Mir, after helping bring all home safely. But politics aside, it would be economically unwise for NASA to end Russia’s involvement in the new station, as NASA has already put $687 million into the joint project.

More sensible is for Congress to pass the Sensenbrenner-Brown legislation, then tie any future NASA funding for the international space station to tightened U.S. oversight--just the thing that has been missing on Mir.