On Thursday, 26 April 2018 13:47:41 UTC-4, Chris.B wrote:
On Thursday, 26 April 2018 00:44:07 UTC+2, Quadibloc wrote:
A Verge article about delays in the publication of installments of _A
Song of Ice and Fire_ says Russia charges $80 million per astronaut
ferried to the Space Station.

While there are good reasons for the U.S. to have its own manned
spaceflight capability, if money were the only consideration, that is
immensely cheaper than actually having a space program.

But at what cost? You provide increased wealth to a corrupt and authoritarian despot with known human rights abuses and who thrives on propaganda.

You fail to educate your scientists in the steadily advancing arts of rocketry. You are subject to their timetable and their industrial and scientific espionage.

Upside? They have to buy their own $0.25 million dollar screwdrivers.

Take the Chinese rare-earth industry. 95% of the world's supply controlled by them. Some of them strategic metals. Thankfully, the Chinese would sell their own mothers for a buck so there is still a steady supply, for a price. But that could change.