What I was saying is that we were better off using throwaway spacecraft as they did. Much cheaper and safer.
That said, we ought to not be dependent on Russia to go into space. We need our own manned vehicles simply as a matter of national pride. Unfortunately, those are foreign words to the current president.
The shuttle had a lot of capability. It's the only thing that's been able to put up a crew along with a heavy payload. To match it Russian style, you'd need a heavy lifter and several rendevous with crews, but then there would still be no shuttle bay. Manned space flight is dead without the shuttle, well, except for the ISS, I guess. We'll see how long that lasts.