The U.S. non-proliferation law that bars NASA from buying space station-related goods and services from Russia also could affect U.S. companies developing commercial logistics services for the orbital outpost, said a senior agency official, who stressed to Congress the importance of getting the measure waived this summer. William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for space operations, said negotiations to buy Russian Soyuz capsules must begin this summer because it takes three years to build the ve- hicles, which will be the only means of transporting crews to and from the international space station once the U.S. space shuttle retires around 2010. NASA's shuttle replacement, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, is not slated to become fully operational until 2016.
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