[doubloon]

Soyuz yes in modern times. But also back in the 70s. Apollo-Soyuz seems like such a distant memory, like something you see on "Today I Learned" on reddit followed by 5,000 upvotes from amazed gen-zers.

The height of the cold war when we had thousands of nukes pointed at each others cities, multiple proxy wars including Vietnam, a conservative Republican president and conservative Communist premier, yet somehow a civilian international space program was still considered worth it.

The whole "for profit" thing just seems like such a sham. It's only "for profit" because the government is paying the bills, while avoiding liability and scrutiny if something goes wrong. Every space accident will now be like the Virgin Galactic fatalities, a bunch of secretive corporate NDAs instead of an open inquiry like Challenger.

[The_Colonel]

> somehow a civilian international space program was still considered worth it.

I think a major reason was that, for all its failings, USSR was a superpower, powerful, influential, with an internationally attractive ideology. Russia today is a sunsetting power kicking around itself.