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mcchanical t1_j17hqt2 wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in The European Vega-C rocket was lost shortly after lift-off from French Guiana on Tuesday with two Airbus satellites on board by DoremusJessup

NASA was still using it well beyond the point where it became unavailable, so whether they knew about it or not, the space agency funded by the leading Western economy wasn't prepared and had to fall back on a private company that it was lucky to be able to call upon.

SpaceX has done a lot for space exploration in general. Everyone relies on them, and neither Europe nor the US as geopolitical entities can claim credit for sustaining the ability to service the space industry. The entire industry needs to catch up.

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[deleted] t1_j17i3tc wrote

[deleted]

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mcchanical t1_j17iaou wrote

It has everything to do with your comment. You said soyuz was identified as a problem long ago. I said NASA didn't do anything about it until they were forced to.

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[deleted] t1_j17ih0k wrote

[deleted]

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mcchanical t1_j17izqb wrote

I'm not attacking the US. I'm responding to an american saying that European space agencies aren't doing enough to compensate for the lack of viable launch vehicles. Russia and the US built their space programs as the backdrop for dominating the other in the Cold War, and invested unprecedented public funds into doing so. The rest of the world is doing their best without war funds, and shouldn't be held responsible for the lack of viable launch providers. Especially when the lauch provider here is very reliable in general.

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