Summary: Uncertainty about future Russian involvement in the international space station underscores the need for NASA to continuously develop and implement contingency plans. Russia had agreed to provide a host of critical equipment for the station, but funding problems have already delayed the delivery of the service module--the first major Russian-funded component--and have raised concerns about Russia's ability to support the station during assembly and thereafter. NASA is implementing a multifaceted plan to address the risk of further delay of the service module and the possibility that the Russians will be unable to provide the progress vehicles needed to reboost the station. The agency now estimates it will cost $1.2 billion to protect against Russian nonperformance. Despite this contingency plan, NASA lacks an approved overall plan to deal with issues like late delivery and loss of critical hardware. NASA is satisfied that Russian quality assurance and manufacturing standards are acceptable. However, the service module's inability to meet debris protection requirements is a potential safety issue. Pressures on the program budget continue to mount. NASA assumes that assembly will be completed by 2004--a schedule that the agency concedes will not be easy to meet. Schedule delays could further increase total program costs. The prime contractor's estimate of overruns at completion has been raised several times and now stands at $986 million. At the same time, the program's nonprime components--science facilities and ground and vehicle operations--have risen from $8.5 billion in 1994 to more than $12.4 billion today.
