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Health & Science1h 36m ago
For nearly nine years after the Space Shuttle retired, American astronauts relied on Russian Soyuz capsules to reach the International Space Station, until a private company closed this gap.
International Space Station, Kennedy Space Center, Kazakhstan
Who
NASA, SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Axiom Space, Vast, Voyager Technologies, Doug Hurley, Bob Behnken
What
For nearly nine years after the Space Shuttle retired, American astronauts relied on Russian Soyuz capsules to reach the International Space Station, until a private company closed this gap.
When
Mon, 15 Jun 2026 13:55:09 GMT · 1h 36m ago
Where
International Space Station, Kennedy Space Center, Kazakhstan ·
Why
The Space Shuttle retired in July 2011, leaving the U.S. without a spacecraft capable of transporting humans to the ISS, and its replacement program was canceled.
The Frontline Impact
How this affects you
The reliance on foreign spacecraft for American astronauts to reach the ISS created political and financial strain, which a private company has now mitigated through commercial resupply and crew services.
Story chain
5 events in this thread- Currently Reading1h 36m agoFor nearly nine years after the Space Shuttle retired, American astronauts relied on Russian Soyuz capsules to reach the International Space Station, until a private company closed this gap.
- Health & Science1h 36m agoNASA relied on private companies like SpaceX to provide resupply and crew transport to the International Space Station after the Space Shuttle retired in 2011.Open article
- Health & Science2h 1m agoNASA continues to rely solely on SpaceX's Crew Dragon for American crewed access to the International Space Station, as Boeing's Starliner remains grounded following its 2024 test flight and subsequent issues.Open article
- Health & Science2h 1m agoNASA continues to rely solely on SpaceX's Crew Dragon for American crewed access to the International Space Station, despite original plans for two commercial providers.Open article
- Health & Science2h 1m agoNASA currently has only one American-built, human-rated system, SpaceX's Crew Dragon, to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station.Open article
Verified Sources & Citations
- HIGHSpace Dailyhttps://spacedaily.com/j-v-nasa-still-has-no-american-built-way-to-reach-the-international-space-station-except-spacexs-dragon-capsule-a-dependency-that-has-lasted-years-and-shows-no-sign-of-ending-soon/
- HIGHSpace Dailyhttps://spacedaily.com/j-v-the-international-space-station-orbits-earth-roughly-every-90-minutes-yet-for-years-no-american-spacecraft-could-reach-it-a-gap-a-single-private-company-stepped-in-to-close/
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