What's funny though is the US wasn't able to transport astronauts back and forth since the shuttles were retired. I am sure Elon can do it now, but relying on the Russians for that critical role was galactic blackmail. They could have always used that as a bargaining chip to get almost whatever they wanted.
It's like Germany relying on the Russians for most of their gas. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Fine. The international space station doesn't have to include Russia.
What's funny though is the US wasn't able to transport astronauts back and forth since the shuttles were retired. I am sure Elon can do it now, but relying on the Russians for that critical role was galactic blackmail. They could have always used that as a bargaining chip to get almost whatever they wanted.
It's like Germany relying on the Russians for most of their gas. Dumb, dumb, dumb.