"J. Clarke" scribbled something like ...


Astronauts are not man-rated, boosters are man-rated. The US has
certain standards for boosters made by or purchased by NASA for manned
space operations. Soyuz boosters are Russian boosters, made, owned,
and operated by Russians and the Russian's don't give a tinker's damn
what NASA thinks. NASA has a choice, they can buy tickets on Soyuz or
they can simply abandon manned spaceflight altogether and they've
chosen to buy tickets. They have no more authority over the design or
operation of the spacecraft than a passenger on an airliner does over
the design or operation of the airliner.


But was NASA willing to buy those tickets without there being reason to
believe that the risks were as acceptable as with a rocket under NASA's
control?

I bet the Russians, as part of the sales pitch, made presentations about
the safety of the Soyuz rocket.

/dps