With the space shuttle due to retire in 2010, and the US not likely to have a replacement manned space flight option ready till 2015, Russian’s space fleet is the only interim option for the US to get people into space and onto the ISS.

That bill includes an exemption for Russia’s Soyuz program, allowing the US to book seats on Russian manned flights, but that expires in 2011, when it will be put to the vote again.

Senator Bill Nelson, the Florida-based democrat who is a major advocate for Nasa, has publicy acknowledged that Russia’s increasingly aggressive stance means Congress is unlikely to let the exemption through.

He told Florida Today: "It was a tough sell before, but it was doable simply because we didn't have a choice. We don't want to deny ourselves access to the space station, the very place we have built and paid for."

He also acknowledged that even if Congress did extend the waiver an increasingly assertive Russia might simply snub NASA.

Nelson did not let the opportunity pass to take a pop at the Bush administration, criticising it for allowing the US to become dependent on Russia’s manned space program. "If I were president I'd be pulling out all the stops to get Russia to understand the consequences of continued bad behavior," Nelson told the Sentinel.

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Maybe I'm wrong but I thought it was the Clinton admin that brought the Rooskies into ISS bigtime. A good decision in my view. I think that the Bush admin's plans to have a 5 year hiatus post shuttle now do need to be re-examined. N.B. that Nelson is the congresscritter representing the to-be-downsized shuttle workforce district. Were I Bush/NASA I'd look at extending the shuttle (groan) another year or so and examine possibilities such as assisting Space X to see if the Falcon series could serve as a boost vehical to cover the gap.