Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:
"Ed Kyle" wrote in message
ups.com...

The fact is that the U.S. space shuttle is a flawed system
that has failed to maintain a U.S. human presence in space,
in stark contrast to Russia's Soyuz system.

Yes, too bad the Russians haven't been able to live up to their promises for
number of Soyuz and Progress craft.

And NASA has lived up to its promises? The U.S. gave up on
living up to its ISS commitments back in 2001-2002, when
Goldin's NASA overran the ISS budget so badly that Congress
said "enough". NASA has not, and never will, provided full
crew capability, has not provided a rescue craft, etc. Meanwhile,
the U.S. is talking about abandoning ISS altogether in a few
years.

Today, Russia is the partner pulling the weight on ISS. During the
past three years, Russia delivered six U.S. astronauts to ISS at
no charge on six Soyuz flights (along with seven Russians, three
Europeans, and one space tourist). During the same period,
Russia, with no major hiccups, delivered nearly 28 tonnes of cargo
to the station on eleven Progress freighter missions, provided
station reboost, and provided continuous crew rescue capability.
NASA managed one flawed shuttle flight to ISS with seven
astronauts and an unannouced cargo mass that appears to have
been in the 2-4 tonne range.

- Ed Kyle