NRM writes "What with Russia having now monopolised the flying of space crews to the $100 billion International Space Station, NASA is now looking to invest in at least two U.S. firms to design and build what they’re calling ‘space taxis’ to transport astronauts to and from the space station. Russia, it is reported, currently charges around $60 million per person for the privilege..."
The asteroid zoomed by Earth at a perfectly safe distance of around 1.8 million miles (2.9 kilometers).
Engineers expect to lose contact with the private US moon lander Odysseus on Tuesday, cutting short the mission after its sideways touchdown last week.
NASA announced Tuesday that a $32.7 million Capstone spacecraft intended to try out a skewed lunar orbit had lost contact, but agency engineers are confident
Funny how NASA cut their own programs to fly people to space due to budget cuts and now they just realize that Russia is exploiting this since they are the only ones putting people in space regularly now.
So now not only are they paying Russia they now are investing in other private companies who may or may not work out. NASA instead could have kept its program and opened it up to other companies/countries and cashed in by charging them for trips. Would help them support the program and might even make them a slight profit to support other areas.
I have already seen and looked up the rail gun shuttles they are looking into. The concept seems right, but we will see how they execute the idea in the nearish future