Number: RL34477
Title: Extending NASA's Exemption from the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act
Authors: Carl Behrens, Resource, Science, and Industry Division; Mary Beth Nikitin, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division 
Abstract: The United States has grave concerns about the proliferation threat posed by Iran's pursuit of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, ballistic missiles, and advanced conventional weapons. The United States has passed laws and used sanctions to deter countries such as Russia, China, and North Korea from providing related technologies to Iran. The Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 (INA, P.L. 106-178) added two new provisions to the existing laws: it widened some of the sanctions applicable to foreign persons, and, in Section 6, contained a ban on U.S. government payments to Russia in connection with the International Space Station unless the U.S. president makes a determination that Russia is taking steps to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and ballistic and cruise missiles, to Iran. This provision raised difficulties regarding U.S. access to the International Space Station when President Bush in 2001 cancelled NASA's planned Crew Return Vehicle (CRV), which was to act as a "lifeboat" for the astronauts on the ISS, leaving them dependent on the Soyuz. The President's announcement in 2004 that the space shuttle fleet would be retired in 2010 further increased that dependence.
Pages: 7
Date: October 1, 2008