Jorge R. Frank wrote:


"Presumably available" is a bit strong; looking over the history
of Soyuz in the ISS era, the next Soyuz typically doesn't ship
to Baikonur until about three months after the previous one was
launched. So you don't have 100% coverage unless you accelerate
the pipeline.

Is Soyuz assembly now being done on a single-shift per day basis?
If so, some acceleration should be possible.

And you still have the seatliner issue; since there will
typically be multiple shuttle launches over the life of that
Soyuz, you'd have to get all the shuttle crewmembers fitted
for them.

Is that a big deal? Or could inflatable or moldable few-sizes-
fit-all seatliners be developed for emergency use? Perhaps not as
good as custom-fitted ones, but better than the alternative...