I’d love to see more space competition from democratic countries
Yeah definitely. For cargo, we currently have:
Russia: Progress
China: Tianzhou
U.S.: Cygnus and Cargo Dragon
Because the Antares 330 isn’t ready yet, all U.S. cargo vehicles launch on Falcon 9. Although F9 is one of the most reliable launch vehicles, any issue could potentially ground the U.S. cargo fleet. Dream Chaser will hopefully launch (on Vulcan) within the next year, which would provide some launch vehicle redundancy. Japan should be debuting HTV-X1 not long after.
Yeah definitely. For cargo, we currently have:
Because the Antares 330 isn’t ready yet, all U.S. cargo vehicles launch on Falcon 9. Although F9 is one of the most reliable launch vehicles, any issue could potentially ground the U.S. cargo fleet. Dream Chaser will hopefully launch (on Vulcan) within the next year, which would provide some launch vehicle redundancy. Japan should be debuting HTV-X1 not long after.
Have I missed any?