inhabitants will be launched early next year. Those immense supply runs
will end, though, when the
shuttles are retired at the
end of next year. NASA hopes to stockpile big spare parts at the space station before that happens; Endeavour, in fact, will carry up some on the next shuttle mission. NASA also will have to rely on the Russian Space Agency to transport all its astronauts up and down, during the estimated five years between the final shuttle mission and the first ferry flight with a replacement spacecraft. The round-trip Soyuz ride will cost $51 million per American astronaut. That's considerably more than the $35 million paid by the most recent space tourist, Charles Simonyi, an American software entrepreneur who flew last month. A NASA spokesman said Thursday that the space agency did not take part in the space tourist contract negotiations and therefore could not comment on the difference in price. But the spokesman, Kelly Humphries, noted that Soyuz seats purchased by NASA in 2008 were $47 million apiece and the newest price reflects general increases. As for the next shuttle flight to the space station, Endeavour is scheduled to blast off June 13 with the final components for the Japanese laboratory that's already up there. That mission, however, could be bumped into July. Stormy weather at NASA's launching site has delayed launch preparations.