No, NASA is not “hitching a ride” from the Russians. “Hitching a ride” implies that we are getting it for free. We are paying for taxi services, and because they are a monopoly provider, we are paying too much. But the problem isn’t buying rides, it’s that we’re paying too much for them, and not purchasing them from American providers. This is something that could be fixed within three years, but the Congress is cutting the funding to do so so that it can build a giant (in both size and cost) unneeded rocket that won’t fly for at least a decade.
[Update a couple minutes later]
I should note that the headline is probably not Ken Chang’s fault — copy editors come up with headlines. But I do think he should have pointed out that the same Dragon capsule that could start delivering cargo to ISS next year could also be delivering crew in the next three or four years.
Some thoughts. Regardless of his other attributes, he would be the best president ever in terms of space policy, if he could get the congressional porkers under control.
Wall Street banks are not blameless for the financial crisis. But they were only responding to the incentives set up by the federal government. Ignoring this history will help no one.
Well, a lot of statists would like us to ignore it, so they can avoid justice.
…isn’t just that he is clueless about space policy. After all, he’s clueless about most everything other than 9-9-9. The real problem is that none of the candidates, with one exception, are any better.