NASA signs $490m Russian contract for astronaut rides

Lacking funding for shuttle program, US will continue deal to carry crews to space station

NASA has renewed a contract with Russia's space agency for $490 million to carry US astronauts to the International Space Station for lack of Congressional funding, the US agency said on Wednesday.

The United States will continue to rely exclusively on Russia to take astronauts to the orbiting outpost under the new contract, which runs until 2019, even as relations between the two countries have reached their lowest point since the Cold War.