DecoyBacon t1_j1c67b3 wrote on December 23, 2022 at 5:22 AM

Do we, the US, even have a vehicle capable of rescue at this point? With the shuttles retired, I'm not sure what our options are. Critics like to complain that the shuttles were too expensive, inefficient, so on and so forth but god damn if they werent a fantastic machine. Plus the astronauts could land the damn thing and walk off of it instead of landing in the damn ocean. Relying on Russia and god help us, SpaceX, seems kind of insane at this point, no?

Tonaia t1_j1c71y5 wrote on December 23, 2022 at 5:30 AM

The US has contracts with SpaceX and with Boeing. Boeing's Starliner was plagued with problems during development and will be entering service about three years late. Sierra Space's Dreamchaser (It's a mini shuttle, let's go!) will start cargo missions in 2023, and will continue to be developed to have a crewed variant sometime later in the decade, probably for when Orbital Reef becomes a thing.

You complain about SpaceX, but have they ever been a bad partner for NASA to work with?

DecoyBacon t1_j1c7f1k wrote on December 23, 2022 at 5:34 AM

No issues with SpaceX yet but Musk is off-putting and unreliable at the moment. As long as he's hands off I'm a big fan of SpaceX

DecoyBacon t1_j1c7imx wrote on December 23, 2022 at 5:35 AM

Also I'm not familiar with the dream chaser so I've got to look that up. What a name!

Drostan_S t1_j1c6qjr wrote on December 23, 2022 at 5:27 AM

We have SpaceX crew capsules which I'm sure could be used for a rescue, as they can be sent up remotely. We also have the SLS capsule, which while new, could potentially be fielded in an emergency for a rescue.