“The US no longer has a way to transport its people into space and must depend upon the Russians to do it. It will be a long time before we can ever be truly number 1 in manned space exploration.”
I guess you’re a big SpaceX fan then, since this same Dragon capsule is designed to carry up to seven people. It needs to finish the man-rating process, but is expected to carry passengers within 3-4 years. It is by far the best shot at have manned American spacecraft in the near term.
Yeah right. In the meantime we have the reality of depending on someone else to fill the void. And who's to say that 3-4 years is realistic? It sounds like the same kind of crap the electric car people put out.
I looked at the check list yesterday to see where they were on that score. WOWZA! They are further along than I ever expected they would be by now.
They don't have many more line items to test and pass before that is a done deal.
They have done it far cheaper and faster than any gooberment program could have.
To date, they have not killed a single person in the process.
/johnny