Another American ISS astronaut, Tracy Dyson, came back in this manner last Monday.
If you have the choice between a spacecraft that has a definite 99.7% chance of successful return (Dragon) and a spacecraft that probably has a 99.7% chance of successful return, but you can't be sure it isn't 99% (Starliner), you'd choose Dragon.
But, if you have to choose between the latter and paying an adversary, you'd just choose Starliner.
They didn’t fuck with NASA when Dubya invaded a country, after all. Every spacefaring superpower has its fingers in a bunch of mass murder pies somewhere.
There is no geopolitical upside to Russia or geopolitical downside to the US for NASA to contract Roscosmos to rescue some Americans from space. I imagine SpaceX was just faster and cheaper and already had a mission scheduled.
Soyuz MS-27, scheduled for March 2025 with the American Jonny Kim, or Christopher Williams as the backup.
SpaceX Crew 10, scheduled for February 2025 with the Russian Kirill Peskov.
That is entirely different from actively paying Russia for a flight, where, for starters, there's the political problem of having to give Russia money and somehow avoiding politicians turning that into an issue (especially considering the election year). Then there's the problem that it'd give Russia leverage to demand a loosening of restrictions. Russia has already been complaining about the sanctions limiting their access to components for spacecraft.
https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_NAS1510110_8000_-...
So far this year NASA has executed 7 contract modifications (from February through September), under which it has paid Roscosmos an additional US$2.6 million. While that's not a huge amount of money, it doesn't look like there is a hard prohibition on NASA paying Roscosmos for services.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/russia-us-agree-add...
August 25, 2023
> Aug 25 (Reuters) - Russian and U.S. space authorities have agreed an additional flight for an American astronaut on board Russia's Soyuz MS spacecraft, Interfax news agency said on Friday, in a rare sign of bilateral cooperation at a time of high tension over Ukraine.
You have the same internet I do, you should be able to find this information yourself. Stop being a dumbass, unsubscribe from your reddit or wherever it is that's influencing you to think you can know things by bullshitting instead of researching.
SpaceX did not have to bump 2 trained astronauts to return them to Earth. That was simply the cheapest, least disruptive way to bring them back. There has always been the option of sending a dedicated Dragon for them, but that would require NASA to pay for an entire additional Dragon mission just to bring two people back who are in no urgent need of bringing back.
You go to an island for your employer, and the ferry breaks down once you get there. While your employer can send another ferry soon to bring you back, they ask if you'd be okay staying for a rotation because that'd be more convenient for them. They also arrange a means for you to leave in case of an emergency. You're enjoying the island, so you agree. The replacement ferry is not a rescue.
Starliner made the uncrewed return just fine, which means that on NASA's side, the return to flight should not be too complicated (well, besides showing that the doghouse deformation issues have been resolved) and should not involve a redo of this flight. What remains to be seen is what position Boeing takes on it, as they have been very quiet over if they're going to continue in Commercial Crew.