While I agree that it is definitely best to use domestic launchers and not have to rely on the Russians for engines or astronaut launch, I don't think that "Fuck the Russians" is really a great expression of that. Since Apollo-Soyuz, spaceflight has been something that our two countries can productively collaborate on, despite our (at times, vast) political differences.

Maintaining good relations between NASA and the RKA is valuable for everybody. SpaceX/RKA relations are less important however.

This is a bad Hacker News comment: both politically inflammatory and a glib throwaway. That makes it a bad comment squared, not even counting its implicit Godwinism.

Your "Fuck the Russians" comment upthread was another bad one. It derailed the conversation into an off-topic, indignant subthread. These are the thistle patches of HN.

Please don't post any more comments like these to Hacker News.

Calling for NASA to stop working with Roscosmos and the ISS over Putin is nuts. Space research and exploration is more than petty flag waving.

Somehow I think taking over Crimea is more than petty flag waving to the people who live there. I'd ask for more empathy for those whose lives may be irrevocably damaged by the actions of the Russian Head of State.

Taking over Crimea is awful and completely predictable, as is the land corridor from Crimea to Russia that will be opened to the north. Russia is scared of losing control of the naval base it has held there for over a century.

However the collaboration with the ISS is something that forces communication and trust on a joint project at a high level. It is not just that it is important for space research, it is even more important for soft diplomacy. It forces the governments into situations where they have to talk about something other than sabre rattling on a regular basis.

To be fair, most of people living there are Russians, and they seem to be happy to live in Russia.

Of course the way Russia took Crimea wasn't very good, and was just to secure naval base, but they did it without bloodshed, which wouldn't be possible if people there wanted to stay with Ukraine.

That was a karma 4 acccount and this is much later, but...

The main problem imho is that the last time destabilization and military [threat] was used to steal land areas around Europe, it was by guys in mustasches... And the motivation was similar -- "protect" Russi... German speaking populations.

And right now the same methods are used in another area. Just like the 1930s, too.

That second area will hardly be the last, if it works again. "Peace in our time" failed last time...

As an European, this is just scary and everything really needs to be done to stop this before there is another big war.

Having empathy doesn't mean we should fall into the politician's fallacy. Unless you can demonstrate how would stopping the collaboration actually help the Crimeans, it's nothing but demagogy.

"Seems like the wrong time to be sending hundreds of millions of dollars to the Kremlin" -- Elon Musk

He's certainly not making friends in Russia today. That said, I feel like the ISS is too important to be left to the whims of the US Congress. IIRC NASA plans to deorbit the American part of it within the next decade, while Russia keeps the rest aloft and turns it into a waystation for planetary missions.

Not many people know that he initially (pre-SpaceX) tried to buy a couple decommissioned ICBMs to send a plant to Mars. He was ready to write the check, and the Russians spiked the price at the last minute.

So he's probably got a grudge or two.

I've heard of Russian ICBM story, but I haven't heard of this part before:

> the Russians spiked the price at the last minute

What's the source for this part?

    They had two more trips scheduled to Russia; now Ressi 
    decided, as he says, "I didn't like dealing with Russians," 
    and told Musk he wasn't going back. Musk went anyway. On 
    the second trip, Musk brought his wife, Justine — "I think 
    that's the trip when the lead Russian designer started 
    spitting at us," Cantrell says — and on the third and final 
    trip he brought his money. He was ready to buy three Russian 
    ICBMs for $21 million when the Russians told him that no, 
    they meant $21 million for one. "They taunted him," Cantrell 
    says. "They said, 'Oh, little boy, you don't have the money?' 
    I said, 'Well, that's that.' I was sitting behind him on the 
    flight back to London when he looked at me over the seat and 
    said, 'I think we can build a rocket ourselves.'"

http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/elon-musk-int...

It's a great article.

I doubt it's a grudge. Accusing your competitor of sending money to the Kremlin in a time when the U.S.-Russia relationship isn't exactly great is simply a well-executed political jab.

What is your source on that? According to a page on the NASA site from Oct 13. The Station is expected be operational through at least 2028.

I wouldn't be so hasty. By the time NASA has its own launch capability to the ISS again, Putin may have retired.

Well, F* nationalists. Earth is too important to be left to the whims of crazies like you.

As always, there is a middle ground between "rah rah <country>" and "one world!".

The U.S. government, especially its intelligence agencies, have many potentially grave flaws for a democracy. Putin and the Russian government, however, are decidedly worse leaders for freedom, and no friend of the US government or its citizens. Therefore, it's not unreasonable to look to be less dependent on their honesty, integrity and goodwill.

So stop being so F*ing judgmental.