Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Free to Rely on Russians


The AP reported:

An unmanned Russian supply ship bound for the International Space Station failed to reach its planned orbit Wednesday, and pieces of it fell in Siberia amid a thunderous explosion, officials said

NASA is officially out of the space supply business, having eliminated the Space Shuttle program.  Russia is the only supplier at this time.   NASA lost space craft as well.  After the Challenger explosion, NASA took an extended break to fix design problems.  The question is how long before the Russians are ready to fly again.

How long before American-branded space contractors can do what NASA did?  That remains to be seen.