I don't think that it should. This was a completely different stack than what the Russians use for launching people, the Russian manned mission success rate is damned impressive, and the US has had a fair number of their own failed probes.

It's oddly satisfying to see the word "stack" used so literally on a website where most news is software-related.

That's a good point... I do forget, manned vs. robotic are two completely different ball games.

That and the launch system to LEO worked perfectly. It's the probe/upper stage that failed.

> Russia's ability to safely ferry US astronauts into space over the next few years

Nothing to do with each other. The Russian success rate with low to mid earth orbit[1] is much, much better than NASA's[2]. Soyuz is the most reliable, and probably the cheapest, way to get a payload or people into earth orbit[3].

The shuttle was a disaster. Over-engineered, too expensive and not safe. The Russian technology (both capsule and boosters) which was a decade older proved in the long term to be more practical in every way.

And NASA has also had its share of problems with missions to Mars.

[1] only Soyuz 11 failed, cabin depressurization on return, since 1967, out of 112. 40+ years now since the last failure.

[2] 135 launches, two failures, too many delays and other problems to count

[3] http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Delta_Mission/SEM8XK57ESD_0.html