Russian officials have sent out mixed messages in recent weeks whether the two cosmonauts on board the Russian space station Mir would be blamed and/or penalized for a June 25 collision between a Progress supply spacecraft and the station's Spektr module.
     A report September 2 stated that cosmonauts Vasily Tsibliev and Alexander Lazutkin were found to be responsible for the collision which depressurized the Spektr module and would be fined.
     "There is no doubt about the conclusion that has been drawn," said Valery Ryumin, former cosmonaut and deputy director of the Energia company which manages Mir. "One feels sorry for the lads, but facts are facts."
     That report was disputed by Russian officials later, who said the investigation was ongoing and that any blame would have to be shared with ground controllers.
     On September 9, the paper Kommersant Daily reported that Russian officials had fined Tsibliev and Lazutkin the maximum 30 percent of their pay they would have received from the mission. The 30 percent fine equals an estimated $10,500.
     That report was disputed by Russian officials, who said it was normal for cosmonauts to receive only 70 percent of their pay at first. The remaining 30 percent, or some fraction thereof, would be paid once a final conclusion had been reached on the cause of the collision.
     Despite the cloud of uncertainly about the cause of the accident, the two cosmonauts are being treated as heroes. Tsibliev will be given an "Order of Merit of the Fatherland" award and Lazutkin the "Hero of Russia" medal. Both will also receive plots of land outside Moscow, mobile phones, and other gifts.

Japanese space efforts will face one of their largest obstacles in recent years with a proposed 1998 budget that offers little increase over 1997 funding levels.
     NASDA, the largest element of Japan's space program, is slated to get a budget increase of only 1.5%, to $1.5 billion, in 1998, the smallest budget increase ever for the space agency. Overall Japanese space efforts will see an increase of 2.1% to approximately $2.2 billion.
     The small budget increase means several key NASDA programs will face severe cuts, including a planned Moon mission and HOPE-X, a prototype unmanned shuttle. A Earth observing satellite and an experimental communications satellite also faced budget cuts.
     Japan will also reportedly give higher consider to projects that are interagency or international in scope, rather than projects that are solely supported and funded by a single agency.
     ISAS, the other major Japanese space agency, fared better in 1998, with a budget increase of more than 4 percent. The budget will allow it to continue its planned projects. One such mission, the LUNAR-A mission to the Moon, was delayed until 1998 due to numerous technical problems.
     Some major programs, such as the Japanese Experiment Module for the International Space Station and a replacement satellite for the ADEOS mission, an Earth-observing craft which failed in orbit earlier this year, were fully funded.

Anti-nuclear activists who are opposed to the 33 kg (72 lbs.) of plutonium carried by the Cassini spacecraft sought to gain support for their efforts to prevent the launch of the spacecraft scheduled next month.
     At a September 8 press conference, key anti-Cassini activists claimed an accident during the launch of Cassini or during an Earth flyby two years later could kill thousands or millions of people from radiation exposure from the spacecraft's plutonium.
     "A launch pad explosion similar to the Challenger could kill thousands from cancer and other radiation induced diseases," claimed Bruce Gagnon of the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, one of the leading anti-Cassini organizations. Gagnon said an accident during the August 1999 Earth flyby "could rain down plutonium dust across much of the Earth's surface, resulting in millions of deaths for decades to come."
     NASA and independent experts have said the chance of a launch accident is very small, and the heavily shielded radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) is unlikely to break open, even in a catastrophic explosion. NASA also said the chance of an accidental reentry of Cassini in Earth's atmosphere is less than one in a million.
     Anti-Cassini activists have not been convinced by NASA's reports. "I find that the NASA bureaucrats are living in fantasyland," said Michio Kaku, who is a theoretical physicist at the City University of New York. "Many of these numbers [from NASA studies] are simply made up," he claimed.
     Cassini carries the RTGs to provide electrical power at Saturn's distances from the Sun, distances at which solar panels would not work, NASA reports, even given new advances in solar cell efficiency. RTGs have been used in a number of major missions, including the two Voyager missions and Galileo, without problems.
     The anti-Cassini forces are planning a series of protests in New York, Washington, and Cape Canaveral. Groups involved in the protest have also discussed non-violent efforts to gain access to the launch site and sit on the launch pad.
     Pro-Cassini forced have also been mobilizing their forces. The National Space Society has created a new online section, the cyberSPACE news, with information about the launch and information and tips for pro-Cassini activists. The site on the Web at http://www.nss.org/cyberspace.
     The Planetary Society has also spoken out in favor of the launch. "We believe not launching Cassini would be an enormous financial, intellectual, and exploratory loss," executive director Louis Friedman said in a statement. "The public can take satisfaction in knowing that NASA is being careful, prudent, and smart as we move forward and outward beyond Earth."
     The Planetary Society also called on those who support the mission to call or e-mail the White House on September 15, a date anti-Cassini activists set as a date to contact the White House and express their opposition to the mission.

[Ed. Note: for more information on the Cassini mission and the RTG Debate, visit SpaceViews' Cassini Web site at http://www.seds.org/spaceviews/cassini/]