[MinorityRepublican]

The Shuttle was technically reusable (apart from the 40% of the vehicles which were destroyed, one at launch, one during reentry) but cost north of $500 million per launch.

1% chance of getting blown up each time it goes up into space.

The Soyuz program by the Russians is safer, they have a better design, obviously.

[SunkenCiv]

Not even close.

[jimtorr]

The Soyuz program by the Russians is safer, they have a better design, obviously.

Yes, there's nothing like tried and true, 50-year old technology. The Soyuz systems may be crude, but at least they work.

[GingisK]

they have a better design

They have a simple design. They are terrible to ride, and even worse when they land. They have no cargo capacity.

[VAarea]

I believe probability of failure might of been appreciably higher in the Shuttle’s early days.

“20,000 Seconds of Terror” This is the title of one chapter in the book by a retired Pratt & Whitney engineer, referring to the troubles NASA had with the early O2 main engine turbopump development. The turbopumps had a tendency to self destruct on the test stand, and ended up with a prediceted mean time to failure in the low single digit figure (as I recall) of launches. A major overhall was needed after each flight. The 20,ooo seconds referred ot the total time the pumps were in operation until their replacement several years later by improved designs. Until then, those in the know “sat on their hands” each launch until main engine shutown.

According to the book, P&W originally won the development contract, but that award was rescinded by NASA (apparently due to political considerations) and production was given to Rocketdyne instead; P&W’s protest of the award failed.

In light of the O2 pump problems, P&W was recruited by NASA to work with Rocketdyne for a re-design effort. Having enough on their plate by then, they were reluctant to asume that task but were strong-armed by NASA (stating that a shuttle blowing up with certain loss of crew would adversely impact the whole space effort).

P&W found an unnecessarily complex pump design with undesirable vibrational modes and questional manufacturing techniques among the problems. After replacement by the new designs the pumps functioned well throughout Shuttle lifetime, without incident. .

[pfflier]

The Soyuz program by the Russians is safer, they have a better design, obviously.

Soyuz has many firsts to it's record:

Soyuz 1 - first test, cosmonaut death on re-entry. The world's first space flight fatality.

Soyuz 11 - 3 cosmonauts died in space.

44 killed in pad explosion including the head of the design team, for Vostok. And that is what they admit to...

https://www.rbth.com/science-and-tech/327410-dark-side-of-space-program.

Obviousy space exploration is a deadly gamble whoever tries it. We've lost two shuttles and Apollo 1 on the pad