I don't think that it should. This was a completely different stack than what the Russians use for launching people, the Russian manned mission success rate is damned impressive, and the US has had a fair number of their own failed probes.
> Russia's ability to safely ferry US astronauts into space over the next few years
Nothing to do with each other. The Russian success rate with low to mid earth orbit[1] is much, much better than NASA's[2]. Soyuz is the most reliable, and probably the cheapest, way to get a payload or people into earth orbit[3].
The shuttle was a disaster. Over-engineered, too expensive and not safe. The Russian technology (both capsule and boosters) which was a decade older proved in the long term to be more practical in every way.
And NASA has also had its share of problems with missions to Mars.
[1] only Soyuz 11 failed, cabin depressurization on return, since 1967, out of 112. 40+ years now since the last failure.
[2] 135 launches, two failures, too many delays and other problems to count
Comments
This is really sad, and I hope that they ultimately regain control of it.
However... in my mind, it raises some serious questions about Russia's ability to safely ferry US astronauts into space over the next few years.
I don't think that it should. This was a completely different stack than what the Russians use for launching people, the Russian manned mission success rate is damned impressive, and the US has had a fair number of their own failed probes.
It's oddly satisfying to see the word "stack" used so literally on a website where most news is software-related.
That's a good point... I do forget, manned vs. robotic are two completely different ball games.
That and the launch system to LEO worked perfectly. It's the probe/upper stage that failed.
> Russia's ability to safely ferry US astronauts into space over the next few years
Nothing to do with each other. The Russian success rate with low to mid earth orbit[1] is much, much better than NASA's[2]. Soyuz is the most reliable, and probably the cheapest, way to get a payload or people into earth orbit[3].
The shuttle was a disaster. Over-engineered, too expensive and not safe. The Russian technology (both capsule and boosters) which was a decade older proved in the long term to be more practical in every way.
And NASA has also had its share of problems with missions to Mars.
[1] only Soyuz 11 failed, cabin depressurization on return, since 1967, out of 112. 40+ years now since the last failure.
[2] 135 launches, two failures, too many delays and other problems to count
[3] http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Delta_Mission/SEM8XK57ESD_0.html