NASA has signed a new $335 million contract with Russia to buy six extra seats on Soyuz spacecraft to launch American and partner astronauts into space after the space shuttle fleet is retired, the space agency announced Tuesday. The new deal allows NASA to pay the Russian Federal Space Agency for six round-trip rides to and from the International Space Station in 2013 and 2014. That averages to about $55.8 million per trip - a slight increase from the $50 million NASA paid for seats on the Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft through 2012. After NASA's three-orbiter space shuttle fleet is retired this fall, American space flyers will have to rely on Russia for space transportation until U.S. commercial firms can build spaceships capable of carrying humans. U.S. President Barack Obama is hoping the commercial ventures will come through, according to a report of the Associated Press.
