Also docked to the space station is SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule that ferried four astronauts to the ISS in March, and a Russian Soyuz capsule that delivered three others in September. Stich acknowledged that at least one of those vehicles could provide an alternative ride home for Wilmore and Williams.
The dirty secret of US spaceflight is that it was always private. NASA has never built a rocket that can go to orbit, or orbital crew vehicles. It’s all been private contractors, ever since the pre-NASA NACA days.
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Some did. Others did R&D work for NASA, which would be made available to the private contractors building NASA’s rockets and spacecraft.