The space shuttle is being phased out, and NASA won't have its own transportation for astronauts to the International Space Station. From 2010 to 2015, there's a deal to use Russian rockets. But because of the actions in Georgia, the full range of US Russian ties is under review. What will happen if the deal doesn't go through? Joan Johnson-Freese, author of the forthcoming Heavenly Ambitions: Will America Dominate Space, is a specialist in international space policy at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
