What’s done is done. The Shuttle program has come to a close after 30 years, ending NASA’s half a century dominance of sending Americans to space. And the Russians are bragging, effectively laying claim to space. “In the world of human spaceflight, today marks the beginning of the Soyuz epoch — the epoch of reliability.” [English text]
Really? I wouldn’t necessarily say America owns outer space, but we kicked some serious Soviet Union ass during the race to the Moon in the 1960s, and we kicked every one else’s ass in exploration of the rest of the Solar System. The human spaceflight programs of Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and the Shuttle proved to the world that America was fearlessly second-to-none in its determination to explore the Moon and to be on the cutting edge of technological advances. On average, we were launching Shuttles better than one every three months. Who else but America could build five reusable spacecrafts and launch them 135 times in thirty years? Nobody! NASA has continually pushed America’s drive, status, ingenuity, and know-how into Earth’s truly final frontier for the past fifty years. And now, sadly, most of that is on the back burner…
For the Russians to be claiming that it’s their space age now, and we’ve entered the “Soyuz epoch,” is terribly… Soviet of them. Maybe someone should remind them who got the sweeter end of this Technology Sharing stick, and who shouldered more of the construction cost of the International Space Station. I mean, it not like we own or operate seven (to the Russian’s five) of the fifteen modules that make up ISS, right? However, some bureaucratic tighty-whitey stain signed off on a contract that calls for three crew members on each six-person Expedition to be Russian! That sounds fair, until you realize that the remaining crew members must come from the 15 other countries involved in IIS’ operation. For example, three Russians, two Americans, and a Canadian. Or, three Russians, one American, a Japanese, and an Italian. How did that happen? My grandparents would be on a non-stop coffin rotisserie if they knew what was going on 225 miles above!
It still pisses me off beyond words that we’ve spent an estimated $100 billion dollars on the ISS, including shuttle missions, and we now have no domestic means of getting to it. Why would Obama kill the Constellation program, then allow the Shuttle program to end while extending the Space Station’s mission to 2020? If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was purposely helping Russia’s economy. C’mon! It’s like building a house on small island, and having no possible way to get to the island. Or worse yet, having to rely on your former enemies to fly you and two friends to your island for $190 million. Oh, the Russians are more than happy to give us a ride to ISS in their 1968 Checker Marathon Soyuz taxicab at a cost that will hit $63 million PER SEAT in three years. Sonsofbitches! Mark Shuttleworth flew to ISS in a Soyuz death coffin for $20 million! I have three words for the Russians: Frequent-Fuckin’-Flyer Miles!
Now that the U.S. has no manned spacecraft, and China is ramping up their manned programs exponentially, we’re in danger of being surpassed by the Communists. China is planning on launching the first phase of their own space station later this year, with completion slated for 2020. On top of that, they’ve already launched spacecraft for a lunar exploration program… and the Russians are helping them! We could see the Five Star Red Flag of People’s Republic of China on the Moon by 2025!
If you’re one of those bleeding-heart utopian types, you might ask, “Why should we care? We don’t own the Moon and space is vast enough for all of Earth’s nations.” Well, you should care! Unlike the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Chinese space program is run by their military, the People’s Liberation Army. And that’s enough to cramp the muscles in anyone’s balloon knot.
While NASA says they’ll announce a heavy lift craft “soon,” the fact is they don’t have one. They didn’t have one before ending the Shuttle program. Amazingly, in addition to relying on the Russians to get us to ISS, the Obama Administration has voiced a willingness to work with the Chinese on manned missions to Mars. But should we? Do we really want to work with a country we owe so much money to? A country that we can’t trust? A communist country? I think not. But I suspect someday in the future we’ll all be glued to our televisions cell phones and tablets watching Chinese astronauts build a space station, colonize the Moon, and landing a manned craft on Mars… All thanks to Congressional budget cuts for social entitlements and a retooled mission for NASA that apparently puts Muslim outreach ahead of the United States’ ability to expand its pioneering ability to place Americans in space.
NASA is not without options. They’ve created a program called Commercial Orbital Transportation Services and requested funding for private transport to and from low-Earth orbit. Companies like SpaceX — with their Falcon 9 / Dragon spacecraft — could easily take over for the Shuttles under COTS, sort of. The payload capacity is quite a bit lower, but it’s MORE than the Soyuz! At least SpaceX is American, and we’re not paying Russia upwards of $200 mil for a hitch every six months.
I’m sure you’re tired of my ranting about the space program… so I’ll leave it there. Let’s hope NASA and Congress doesn’t sit on it’s ass and watch the Russians and Chinese pass us by. I’d hate for us to be third best.

