Starliner's future

The contract specialist who OK'd Starliner development as a fixed price contract should have quoted the Solyndra Affair at DOE as a reason not to try to build this on the cheap. It is time to renegotiate, make Boeing whole and fund whatever is needed to get a second test vehicle, with all problems resolved, launched during Crew 9's stay. Send up two NASA astronauts and the members of Crew 9 where were bumped and switch out Butch and Sunny.

Can we afford this? Absolutely. We cannot afford not to do it. 

I suspect that there is little standing in the way between Kursk and Moscow. A little pressure will mean freedom for the ethnic minority regions and the end of the Russian Federation. Putin's demographic profile is not favorable.

It is time to redraw the boundaries of Asia, north, middle and south. Some parts of Russia can go to China, others to Mongolia - with freedom for the Uyghurs and inner Mongolians as part of the deal. Throw in ending the ban on Chinese partnership in the international space world to sweeten the deal. We can have Astronauts who speak Chinese instead of Russian as a second space language. All things are possible.