Mark Hess/Ed Campion
Headquarters, Washington, DC             February 8, 1995
(Phone:  202/358-1778)

Doug Ward
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone:  713/244-7926)

RELEASE:  95-13

NASA/RUSSIAN SPACE AGENCY REACH AGREEMENT ON KEY 
STATION ELEMENT

     NASA and the Russian Space Agency (RSA) have signed a 
protocol complementing an agreement reached between Lockheed 
Missiles & Space Co. and Russia's State Research and 
Production Space Center (Khrunichev) for the U.S. purchase 
of the Russian Functional Energy Block (FGB).  The FGB will 
be launched in November 1997 as the first element of the 
international Space Station.

     The protocol, signed Feb. 5 in Houston by Randy 
Brinkley, NASA's Space Station Program Manager, and Boris D. 
Ostroumov, the Russian Space Agency's Deputy, Piloted Space 
Flight, reflects acceptance by the two space agencies of 
contract terms negotiated by Lockheed and Khrunichev.

     The NASA/RSA protocol also guarantees, with no 
additional cost to NASA, the launch of the FGB on a Russian 
Proton booster, and navigational control in orbit and 
related engineering, integration, logistics, maintenance and 
training support for the FGB.

     The Lockheed agreement with Khrunichev, a subcontract 
to NASA's prime Space Station contractor, Boeing, calls for 
the design, development, manufacturing, test and delivery of 
the FGB at a price of $190 million.

     After initial use as a propulsion module, the FGB will 
serve as a fuel storage module and a service area, which 
will provide living and experimentation space as well as 
backup guidance, navigation and control.  In addition, the 
FGB will serve as an integral part of the Space Station's 
overall power and information subsystems.  


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     Under the agreement, Khrunichev will supply one flight-
ready FGB.  The agreement also calls for on-orbit operation 
and performance verification of the FGB, as well as 
transportation prior to launch between the Khrunichev 
production facility and the launch complex at Baikonur, 
Kazakhstan. 

     In a related agreement, NASA and the RSA on February 6 
signed a protocol establishing a liaison office in Houston 
to support the U.S. - Russian human space flight program.  
NASA maintains a similar technical liaison office in Moscow.



                              -end-



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