• With end of US space shuttle progra, soyuz is now the only way to reach international space station
• Soyuz is a smaller shuttle and can carry only3 tonnes of cargo
• Unlike space shuttle soyuz is not reusable
• However building of soyuz is more econoical and its far more safer than space shuttle
• Russia itself built its own space shuttle Buran which had a capacity to carry 100 tonne cargo and had high tech safety features
• It was the first fully resusable craft
• But it was abondoned following disintegration of USSR for want of funds
• Following end of cold war, space rivalry between US, RUS gave way to coooperation which was reflected in building of international space station
• However lack of trust has prevented the from working together on next gen spaceships
• Pooling of russian and US resources can help build new gen spadce shuttles faster and at a lesser cost
• Currently both are working indepednetly on space shuttles and inter planetary missions
• Obama’s national space policy called for international cooperation. But US has made global missile shield plan a part of its space program which russia sees as a threat to its security and is likely to hamper cooperation India development of new space hardware
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