NASA Will Pay Russia $70 Million Per Astronaut To Be USA's Taxi

The United States and Russia might not always see eye-to-eye when it comes to world affairs on Earth, but out in space, the longtime bromance is set to continue, at least through 2017. This week, NASA announced a $424 million deal with the Motherland to use their Soyuz space capsules to fly our astronauts up to the International Space Station in 2016 and 2017.

According to Space.com, the previous agreement between the superpowers is set to expire in 2015, but with this new contract in place, almost nothing will change, apart from the extra eight million dollars the United States will pay per seat on each of the six more seats it has now reserved, bringing the total cost per astronaut to a little over $70 million. That might not sound like a lot of money, but think about how much it costs you to fill up your car with gas to drive one hundred miles and then do some multiplication.

Two years ago, NASA decided to discontinue its Space Shuttle program and instead move toward using other countries and/ or private companies that may step up in the future. The decision was cited as a cost-cutting measure at the time, but it hasn’t sat completely well with either the general public who would like to see the US continue to be a leader in exploring the galaxy. The continuation of this agreement will definitely continue to save money, but critics will wonder at what cost to the strides the US could have made in its own research.

Space is truly filled with an infinite number of possiblities. Here’s to hoping we can collectively regain some of that wonder and stop having to deal with annoying and practical bullshit.