[Arkcon]

Originally posted by DavidG:
However the shuttle is not necessary to bring them home. They have a Soyuz (sp?) to do that. I also heard a theory they may launch one shuttle just to bring them home if they feel it is safer that the Soyuz

The way I heard it the Soyuz is a ballistic escape pod. Get in, fire it off, and hope you hit where you aimed. The shuttle was always considerd preferable.

Several yrs ago a soyuz landed flawlessly, with a crew of dead cosmonauts -- oxygen leak. Personally, I'd rather go in a hydrazine explosion than suffocated on re-entry. Assuming a sane person can presume to make an informed opinion on a decision like that.

At least a couple of sci-fi scenarios involve global mega corporations taking over the ISS when it's determined too expensive for governments to afford. That's silly, but maybe NASA needs to think small for a little while. Russia sure could use some time to pad it's CD's.