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The US needs another cold war to get it motivated. Maybe if China steps it up...


The US is currently, and for the foreseeable future, solely reliant upon Russia to get astronauts to & from LEO & the ISS. Frankly, I'm surprised Putin hasn't rattled that saber yet.

Edit: I'm rooting for Sabre & Skylon, myself. Perhaps not for big payloads but for 'naut travel, anyway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SABRE_%28rocket_engine%29

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_%28spacecraft%29


> and for the foreseeable future

That depends on whether or not 2017 is foreseeable (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Crew_Development). Since 2012 the US has had a craft that is capable of taking people to and from the ISS, NASA just wants to do an excessive amount of testing and incremental improvements before we trust it (http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2012/05/...).




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