Trips aboard Soyuz rockets to the international space station are rising in price. At least, the trips are rising in price for Americans. Why? The falling dollar. While the dollar has fallen from 1 dollar to 25 1/2 rubies to 32 rubies, the price of a Russian flight aboard the International Space Station has risen to $40 million from $25 million earlier this year. It's a sign that reminds us all that the next steps into space will be heavily influenced by Earth based politics and economics.

NASA is being directed by the US congress to continue with a project to put a robot on the moon. I wonder if this decision has anything to do with plans from China, Japan, India, et al to re-visit the moon for mapping and data gathering missions. Probably, huh?

The Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter was originally scheduled to land on the moon in 2011. It is part of the Lunar Precursor and Robotics Program that was originally planned to pre-date the installation of a moon colony.

The article contains a lot more information in ways that Congress is changing around the proposed NASA budget.

Australia, Britain, and Japan joined the United States in toeing the line against China and Russia regarding the newest space militarization capabilities of China, namely the laser that blew apart the Chinese weather satelitte. Interestingly, in this article the weapon used is said to have been a ballistic missile. China denies the test and Russia says that the test is in response to the star wars program.