National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
Headquarters
Washington, DC 20546-0001

Office of External Relations

Mr. Alexey Borisovich Krasnov
Director
Piloted Space Programs
Federal Space Agency
42 Shepkin Street
129857 Moscow
Russia

Dear Mr. Krasnov:

I am writing you to thank you for the outstanding support provided by Energia to resolve the Service Module computer anomaly that occurred during the STS-117 mission. Without the support of Mr. Sevastyanov and the Energia team the outcome of the computer anomaly resolution would not have been favorable. This was extremely complex technical problem that required close cooperation between the Russian and United States experts to solve this anomaly before it became a crisis. Joint teams also had to be formed to prepare in case the anomaly resolution was not successful. The support to these other teams was outstanding. It is NASA management`s opinion that Mr. Sevastyanov`s personal involvement and commitment of critical Energia resources played a significant role in the successful and timely resolution of the issue. Only through strong management, technical expertise and data sharing between Energia, Boeing, ESA and NASA were we able to achieve a successful result. Mr. Sevastyanov represented Energia well and provided the critical support needed.

Again, I want to thank yon for the outstanding support of Mr. Sevastyanov and the Energia team. Without their technical expertise and support work, the International Space Station would have been halted.

Sincerely,

William H. Gerstenmaier
Associate Administrator
for Space Operations

cc:
Dr. Griffin
Mr. Perminov