"Jorge R. Frank" wrote:

"Jorge R. Frank" wrote in
:

Brian Thorn wrote in
:

On 12 Jan 2004 18:29:00 GMT, Jim Davis
wrote:

Exactly what is the "danger", Ed? There was was a ~5 year gap in US
manned space capability back in the 1970s. The nation didn't miss
it.

SkyLab did.

Arguably the bigger loss was the exodus of many NASA engineers and
managers during the post-Apollo layoffs. NASA lost a lot of
institutional memory during that period.

Ack, hit send too soon.

The "danger" from planning a gap between shuttle and CEV, and announcing
that Soyuz will fill it, is price-gouging by the Russians once the shuttle
is retired and the US has no alternatives.

Price gouging? Couldn't the Russians charge ten times what they've been
charging and still save NASA a boat load of money over using Shuttle?