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VikingSkull posted:There's a huge difference between having a space program and engaging in a space race. The US is head and shoulders above the rest of the world when it comes to space travel. No we aren't. NASA is pretty good when it comes producing/funding science missions, but overall we are slipping more and more. In terms of launches, Russia is beating us for non-commercial applications. Our commercial launch numbers are almost entirely thanks NASA being able to contract out missions to SpaceX. We don't even own the best launch rockets anymore. More companies opt for paying France for the Ariane rocket. Non-US companies can send payloads into space for much cheaper than we can. Due to our export controls, we can't even sell satellite data for commercial use (think hi-res maps for farming/fire fighting, etc), so other companies are paying non-US businesses for the data. On the human space flight front, the Russians are raking us over the coals with $20 million per seat on the Soyuz. Our next crewed US launch won't even be til 2021 on the SLS. And that's not accounting for setbacks due to Trump's budget. We've already pissed away our edge in space.
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Mar 17, 2017 00:32
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| # ¿ May 20, 2024 02:17 |
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