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Yes, the U.S. space program has 17 casualties to its name. ==

Russian rate is 0. Soviet rate was 5.
Consider that Soviets then Russia continuously stayed in space begginning from late 70th. There was almost constatnly space station with 2-3 cousmanauts on board. Each day of all this years.
Then Russia continued that tradition. During all this turbulent years of russian independence there were always space flights.
Russian SOUZ rocket is safest in the world. There was already about 1500 launches of it. Only few about 5 or 6 failures.

Recent air leak on ISS was due to american module not russian. No one report it in american press. But if it would russian leak then I would see lot of reporting.

It is press of cause. But investigative mind have to seek truth on its own.

Ask boris. His main reprimand that russians "dump" thier hardware for fraction of cost. But he told good about ussian launch vehicles or engines for example. Do you know that new american rocket Atlas-5 uses russian engines. American car with russian engine so to speak:)).

Beleive or not. Russia can do everything America can. And for fraction of cost. It is only the question of financing. There are no scientific or technological backwardness in Russia.

Russian rate is 0. Soviet rate was 5.

Consider that Soviets then Russia continuously stayed in space begginning from late 70th. There was almost constatnly space station with 2-3 cousmanauts on board. Each day of all this years.

If the failures are to be framed within the post-Soviet years, then so must the successes in this discussion.

As for the Soviets/Russians having men in space, that is not entirely due to technological superiority; it's more due to the nature of Soviet government that could make such decisions without having to be concerned about public criticism. NASA's accomplishments have been limited not by technological issues, but by Congressional budget cuts due to lack of public support. By 1973, a man on the moon was no longer considered interesting by the average American, even though such a thing was considered the Impossible Dream a mere 5 years before.

The Soviet Union caught us flat-footed and had us beat in the space race with the first satellite, the first man & woman in space, the first space walk and all that. But it was our focus on redundancy and safety (with only nominal concern for the cost of such) that got us to the moon and back, thus effectively beating the Russians at a race in which they held a hefty lead.

This simple fact cannot be lightly dismissed.

Russian SOUZ rocket is safest in the world. There was already about 1500 launches of it. Only few about 5 or 6 failures.

We need more than a rocket to get to Mars. The rocket only gets us into Earth orbit. It's great that the rocket is so successful, but is it reusable? That is a linchpin of the future of space exploration, not disposable rockets.

Recent air leak on ISS was due to american module not russian. No one report it in american press.

On the contrary. That was indeed covered in the American press. I read about it in USA Today, the L.A. Times, Des Moines Register, et cetera.

I personally figured it was only a matter of time before an air leak occurred on the ISS. As I recall, Mir had its share of such things. It only stands to reason that every bug that visited Mir would eventually visit the ISS.

Ask boris. His main reprimand that russians "dump" thier hardware for fraction of cost.

The charge may be spurious, but what do you imagine the production cost of the Buran was? I find it hard to believe it was produced for less than $6 million...yet that's what the asking price was in 2002.

But he told good about ussian launch vehicles or engines for example. Do you know that new american rocket Atlas-5 uses russian engines. American car with russian engine so to speak:)).

Quite true. The engine was better for the purpose of launching commercial satellites. But once again, we need more than just a rocket to get to Mars.

Beleive or not. Russia can do everything America can. And for fraction of cost.

Cool. Then it should be no challenge for Russia to spend the next three years going to the moon 9 times, landing 6 times and safely returning all missions. Once that's done, we'll talk.