NASA probably won't need Russia to send more astronauts to the ISS

[sear]

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Due to the time intervals it's unlikely eliminating sole reliance on Russia to provide ISS transport was the sole intention. But the coincidence with Russia's continuing war in Ukraine is notable.
It's one more example of Russia isolating itself.

NASA probably won't need Russia to send more astronauts to the ISS​

The agency arranged enough SpaceX flights to keep the ISS crewed through 2030.

NASA might not have to lean on Russia again to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. Ars Technica notes the agency has bought five extra crewed ISS flights from SpaceX, or enough to maintain "uninterrupted" US staffing aboard the station until its expected 2030 demise. While NASA still intends to use Boeing's Starliner, the new SpaceX missions will be necessary to fulfill plans for alternating between the two companies once both are an option.

The extra flights could be used as soon as 2026. They'll help with redundancy and keep the ISS operating safely if any problems prevent Boeing or SpaceX from launching in a timely fashion, NASA said. At present, SpaceX is the only private company certified to fly astronauts. Boeing isn't expected to fly its first operational mission until 2023.

NASA probably won't need Russia to send more astronauts to the ISS | Engadget

NASA has bought enough SpaceX flights to keep the International Space Station crewed until its 2030 demise..

www.engadget.com

NASA just bought the rest of the space station crew flights from SpaceX​

NASA just bought the rest of the space station crew flights from SpaceX

"We will need additional missions from SpaceX to implement our strategy."

arstechnica.com

 

[Wolf]

I read this, this morning and gathering from what has been written, it is my belief that the West has "vastly" under rated Putin. The result of what we will see is Russia emerging as a power not to be ever under rated.

Has Putin miscalculated the devastating effects severe economic sanctions will have on the Russian economy or is he relying on a new accord with China in the areas of economic and security concerns to mitigate those effects?
No he has not miscalculated. He has correctly calculated the Russia will be able to withstand any sanctions with Chinese help, and that any sanctions will kill the Western economies more than Russia.
So lets suppose Biden and Boris Johnson impose supertough sanctions on Russia. Good lord, you cant enough convince people to wear masks to save the lives of your own countrymen. What chance to you have of getting people to support any economic pain to help people in a country most people have never heard about.
Putin is now springing a trap that has has spend the last decade putting together:

1. He got the UK out of EU. This means that the London banking system is completely dependent on Russia, and that the UK will undermine any EU sanctions.
2. He has so poisoned US politics that the Republicans hate Biden more than Putin. The millisecond Biden puts any sort of sanctions, Fox News is totally going to ream him.
3. He has also poisoned Ukrainian politics.
4. He got China on his back, and this is *NOT* a new accord. It has been something that Russia and China have been working on since the 1990s.

How much of this is accidental and how much of this is intentional is not clear. But none of this would have been possible in 2010. But if you look at everything Putin has been doing since 2008, it has been part of this grand strategy, that now make a ton of sense.
Nixon is absolutely rolling in his grave, because the thing that Nixon realized is that you do not want Russia and China on the same side, and the amount of incompetence that it took for the US to get Russia and China on the same side is absolutely unreal.
The problem is that the US likes “quick fixes”but the US is now in a hole that it has been digging for the last *two decades*.

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This is utterly insane. So what does Russia need? It has food, it has resources. It needs *tech* and manufactured goods which China can provide Russia. What does China need? What is the *one* thing that China needs that could kill its economy….. Why do you think China is terrified of the US 7th Fleet?
Oil.
Russia has got oil.

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The other thing is that I dont see anything that would suggest a miscalculation. Before Putin did what he did, he probably asked his advisors, and what they told him would happen is more or less what actually happened.

 

[sear]

W #2,
I first read your #2 a few hours after you posted it.
I don't agree with every point. Example: "He got the UK out of EU." If so, Putin had help. Lots of it, as that decision was made by referendum. "This means that the London banking system is completely dependent on Russia, and that the UK will undermine any EU sanctions."
Non sequitur perhaps, though it's understandable that the U.K. would have sensible reason to mitigate EU sanctions against the U.K.

In the Middle East "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". But China and Russia have little in common, except their inappropriate craving for global domination. Short term Russia / China is a problem. Longer term their intrinsic incompatibility should spare the West much toil in resolution.

China has great power, but here to fore has handled it conservatively.
Russia is rather more a thug. They're two separate problems. The cataclysm risk is Putin taking it nuclear. He's already come closer than sensible, with aggressive Russian military operations so close to Ukrainian nuke facility. Dodged a bullet there. Might not be so lucky next time.

PS
W,
Cut-&-Paste (C&P) are welcome, but U.S. copyright law requires a URL to the C&P source.