Why is that hilarious?

1. The Exploration Company builds shuttles, not launchers

2. The US had to rely on Russian shuttles for decades after the Challenger drama

Space is hard and sarcasm not useful.

Don’t forget the JWST was launched by an Arianne rocket…

Not because there was no American launch option, but because Europe wanted to be able to use the telescope, so launch cost was their contribution. Ariane 5 is more than capable of course.

i used to be just as shortsighted but that's not how money and building civilisations works.

the US picked an entirely different set of constraints and thus dominated the past decades with ease.

the EU on the other hand, handles and will handle millions of refugees to come, pay for their education and it will be imperative to expand the job markets. and industries.

this should, theoretically, within 10 years, "change the game" again.

"European", "US", "Asian" is just a sponsorship tag with the teams, hardware and knowledge supply chains being globalised anyway, if I am not wrong.

> European", "US", "Asian" is just a sponsorship tag with the teams

That sounds simplistic. They each have vastly different governance principles and philosophical views about the economy.