Pat Flannery writes:

That would imply that we could come up with a rocket/capsule combo that could
launch astronauts at a price of under 51 million per head, which is pretty
doubtful, particularly given the far lower labor costs in Russia and the fact
that R&D costs for the US rocket and capsule would have to amortized over the
time scale between entry into service and the end of the ISS in 2020

[...snip...]

It will probably be a long time before anything that big gets built in space
again, and the Russian plans for a follow-up space station look a lot more
like a scaled-down Mir than a ISS: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/opsek.html

You notice how eerily similar their 'next-generation transport ship' looks to
Orion?

Hmmm. (rises from wheelchair) MEIN FURHER I HAVE A PLAN!

http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/per...p?s=RKKE%3ARTS

At a price of $290 USD per share and only 1.12 million shares outstanding
NASA could offer a 20% premium over current share price at $350 per share
($50 above Energia all time share price peak) and BUY Energia for an outlay
of only $392 million!

We then outsource Orion to S.P. Korolev / RRC Energia (since they were planning
on stealing it away) for a FRACTION of what we'd otherwise pay!

Then we SELL it back to the Russian Federation at $35 million per ride, thus
undercutting Soyuz!

NASA, NASA above all,
Above all in the world,
When, for exploration and research, it always
takes a brotherly stand together,
From the Cape to the Barking Sands,
From the Moon to the Centrifuge,
NASA, NASA above everything,
Abover everything in the world!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschlandlied

[Collapses back into wheelchair and passes out, hand over throat.]

Dave