New ISS Deal: NASA Astronauts on Russian Rockets, Cosmonauts on SpaceX Rockets

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• Re:

  Read that as "boomstick" and my first thought was "So we're arming both sides now?"

  • Re:

    Pretty sure the Russians are already armed. The Soyuz survival kit comes with a pistol (ostensibly for protection from wild animals if they accidentally land off-target).

    They even had a purpose-built pistol for this until 2006 [wikipedia.org] but now they just have a regular pistol.

• This has very little to do with the president, though. This is mostly between the two space agencies, with surprisingly little political interference. (Surprising because.. You know..)

• • • Re:

      please, i beg of you, learn the history political spectrums beyond what US politics today is.

      the idea that you are going to post-hoc apply party labels today to 150 years ago is a sign of absolute alternative media brain rot. jesus christ

    • So when looking at the parties now - you think the folks waving the confederate flags and trying to keep minorities from voting are the ones that freed the slaves? Just look at voting maps - the north used to be Republican, the south Democrat, now they're reversed. Did the populations move?

    • You really think the party of evil is on the right?

      I'm a gay man, so from where I'm sitting, yes. Intent to roll back our rights is part of the official Republican Party platform. I'm sure you have some way of justifying that position from a perspective that is technically correct but morally bankrupt. The SCOTUS overstepped their authority by legislating from the bench is a common refrain I frequently hear, but now that the SCOTUS leans heavily to the right, the Republican Party is more than happy to let the ends justify the means.

      Regardless of how you may personally feel about LGBTQ+ Americans, we're not your enemy. We didn't raise your gas prices, we're not trying to corrupt/groom your kids, and we're not the reason there's an ongoing "everything shortage". The fact that Republicans feel the need to attack a vulnerable minority group who are your neighbors, co-workers, and 100%-tax-paying-red-blooded-Americans should give you pause. They're fundamentally stating in no uncertain terms that freedoms are not absolute.

      That's pretty evil, if you ask me.

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      • • Re:

          I'm sure the citation you provide will expose a moron on slashdot, either it will be a progressive or it will be you.

          Again, I would like to see some context.

          Did Burger and Bork accept the correct form of the Second Amendment enough for your satisfaction? If so, then so do nearly all elected Democrats. You do realize that in the early days of the Republic, States could just confiscate the guns of people they thought shouldn't have them--not just Black people either. Would you accept that form of Second Amend

    • Hit the link, read the article and prove that you are not just a troll. Even the architect of much of it, Lee Atwater [wikipedia.org], sought repentance on his death bed

      Southern strategy [wikipedia.org]

      In American politics, the Southern strategy was a Republican Party electoral strategy to increase political support among white voters in the South by appealing to racism against African Americans. As the civil rights movement and dismantling of Jim Crow laws in the 1950s and 1960s visibly deepened existing racial tensions in much of the Southern United States, Republican politicians such as presidential candidate Richard Nixon and Senator Barry Goldwater developed strategies that successfully contributed to the political realignment of many white, conservative voters in the South who had traditionally supported the Democratic Party rather than the Republican Party. It also helped to push the Republican Party much more to the right relative to the 1950s.

    • Re:

      That was 150 years ago. 50 years ago they were even the party of progress and individual responsibility. Today they're the party of ludditism that tries to tell you what you are still allowed to do.

      Things change, man...

    • Re:

      Labels change their definitions all the time, especially in politics. I find it annoying. Neither party has the same people or politics of what existed in 1860.

• and if one part of the russen army hit poland

  and if one part of the russen army hit Poland then it's all over

• Re:

  Well, to be fair, when I look at the clusterfuck that is North Stream 1, Russia doesn't even need a change of government (as much as this would be in need) to break agreements.

• Re: I dont get it...

  Fosters cooperation and cross training on each others systems. Both sides figure that is how you keep the peace in dodge. The scary part I think is what happens when one side fails and take the life of a *naut with them. Will Spacex blowing up a Falcon9 or Dragon Crew cause animosity between the east and west? Will Roscosmos losing one of their birds be viewed as intentional? That sort of mishap has the potential to destabilize already strained relations.

  • Re:

    Definitely not a good situation but there is a nice element of MAD to this since it's always a mix of astronauts. Not really a good tactical or logical motive to blow up rockets with live astronauts.

    I do imagine this does keep SpaceX and Roscosmos on their toes though, they would likely have the largest reputation hit.

  • Re:

    Well, it would sure be something... unusual. The last fatality with a Soyus was about 50 years ago, as far as I know.

• Re: I dont get it...

  Is the movie theater kind of expensive to get to due to being located 300 miles into space?:)

  • Re:

    And is the presence of both kids required for the theater to be able to operate correctly, both now and in the future?

    Plus did one of the families invade a third family's house, claiming that family needed to be de-nazified?

    It seems like the OP's question ignores pretty much every relevant aspect of why the two countries are doing this.

• Re:

  Redundancy. Requires that both sides are familiar with the procedures on the other side and that you do by using it.

• Re:

  Why not have each side just send their own? Why send each astronaut halfway across the world before sending them up? Just eat your own dog food.

  There are US and Russian segments to the ISS and you want somebody from each side on orbit all the time.

  You also cannot be on the ISS without a system to return to Earth and you go down on what you came up on. In the event of a medical emergency that requires an astronaut or cosmonaut to return to Earth the whole crew has to return. So, if the US astronaut has an em

• Re:

  It does have a "ridiculous plot point" quality to it, that you may expect in something like Plant 9 from outer space

• Re:

  In either case I imagine there are at least 2 trained native astronauts on oard to work everything.

  "Here are the emergency protocols, please stay out of the way".

  • Re:

    Time for some defectors to let the station keep going.

    • Re:

      Just had a thought :

      What happens if a Russia wants to defect / seek asylum in ISS?

      Can Nasa even do anything, even if it wants to accept (assuming US government wants to accept the Russian)?

• Re:

  You're ignoring the fact that if the Russians pull out, the US might not be able to keep using the ISS - and the US definitely wants to continue doing so. So there is some benefit to the US as well.

  I, for one, and looking forward with some amusement to seeing how the Russian side explains this to their people - given that just a short while ago they were telling them we had no way to get to the station without Russia's launchers.

  • Re:

    Also, Russia may even pay SpaceX

    In any case Putin will spin it as the West being dependent on Russia and begging for help

    • Re:

      • Re:

        rtfs: reports the Associated Press, "and Russian cosmonauts will catch lifts to the International Space Station with SpaceX beginning this fall."

        It is a fair assumption that if Russians are taking a ride on a SpaceX rocket, then they will pay some price for it as when Western astronauts have ridden on Russian rockets.

        I will leave the paying for walls in your hands

        • Re: Sounds like a reverse Hostage situation

          TFA mentions that it's purely a barter arrangement... Russia takes up one US astronaut, SpaceX takes up one Russian cosmonaut (and gets paid by NASA), and so on.

          Part of the motive is to allow more-frequent crew rotations, instead of stranding ANYONE onboard for 6-12+ months at a time. Pretty much everyone now agrees that long stays in space aren't necessarily fatal... but they really aren't GOOD, if only for the sake of the crew's mental health. ESPECIALLY as their average age trends upwards, and they have

• Re:

  "Komrade Rogozin has been promoted to Governor of Ukraine. Lead from the front Dimitry!"

• Re:

  Maybe they could fire him into space. He could, you know, "Take a giant step for mankind!"...