The space program leaders also reviewed what spaceships likely will be availablel to continue transporting crew and cargo to the space station after the space shuttle fleet retires in two years.

Those vehicles include the Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle in the next year, the leaders noted.

As well, there may well be cargo transport on private commercial spacecraft being mentored by NASA.

And NASA is funding, fully, the next-generation U.S. spaceship system being developed in the Constellation Program, including the Orion space capsule being developed by Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT], and the Ares rocket to lift Orion into space. Various components of the rocket are being developed by The Boeing Co. [BA], Alliant Techsystems Inc. [ATK] and Pratt & WhitneyRocketdyne, a unit of United Technologies Corp. [UTX]. The Orion-Ares system won’t see its first manned flight until 2015.

As well, there still will be the Russian Soyuz (manned round-trip) and Progress (cargo, ascent only) vehicles. However, the Soyuz has problems that caused problems on two consecutive landings, with a ballistic descent and hard landing far off course that thus far has sent a South Korean and a Russian to the hospital with back injuries.

Then there is the European robotic cargo craft, the Automated Transfer Vehicle.

So there are several transport vehicles to provide "upmass" capabilities in the next decade.

Space agency leaders "also noted new initiatives such as the ESA plan for an Automated Transfer Vehicle-Advanced Return Vehicle system for downmass from the ISS and the Russia- ESA joint preparatory activities on an advanced Crew Space Transportation System.

"The Heads of Agency expressed their interest in making these capacities available for the benefit of the whole partnership and can provide sustainability of the ISS and prepare for future exploration endeavors."

Because the space station has grown rapidly since U.S. space shuttles resumed flights in 2006, the station crew is slated to double to six personnel, from the current three-at- a-time.

The leaders of the space agencies said they reviewed "implementing plans to maximize the benefits from the increase to a six-person crew in 2009 and discussed efforts to ensure that essential space transportation capabilities (both crew and cargo) will be available across the partnership for the life of the program."