But even this stopgap isn’t going to work forever, because Russia doesn’t have any more Soyuz flights on order past fall 2019. It takes three years to produce a Soyuz spacecraft for launch, so even if the U.S. was willing to purchase more seats from Russia, it wouldn’t see those launches occurring until years later. Which means that Boeing and SpaceX need to be certified by fall 2019 in order for the U.S. to avoid a gap in access—something the GAO is pessimistic will happen.
While we all know US based flight keep being delayed, this article had information that surprised me.https://slate.com/technology/2018/02/americas-options-for-sending-astronauts-to-space-look-increasingly-grim.htmlQuoteBut even this stopgap isn’t going to work forever, because Russia doesn’t have any more Soyuz flights on order past fall 2019. It takes three years to produce a Soyuz spacecraft for launch, so even if the U.S. was willing to purchase more seats from Russia, it wouldn’t see those launches occurring until years later. Which means that Boeing and SpaceX need to be certified by fall 2019 in order for the U.S. to avoid a gap in access—something the GAO is pessimistic will happen.Have not seen this mentioned in other threads, but I probably missed it.Anyone know if this is verified?