As things currently stand, the Space Shuttle program will be suspended in 2010, as the existing orbiters reach the end of their useful lives. The U.S. will then have a window of approximately 5 years in which it will have no independent capacity for manned space flight until the Orion system comes on line. During that 5 year period, American astronauts are expected to travel to and from the International Space Station on Russian ships. That plan took a big hit on April 19, when a returning Soyuz command module reportedly failed properly to separate from its service module, endangering the 3 astronauts on board (including one American). This was the second consecutive Soyuz mission that ended this way — strongly suggesting a systemic flaw. With the Russians downplaying the problem, there’s a real concern that it may not be safe to put all our eggs in the Soyuz basket. Several NASA advocates in Congress — Floridians Bill Nelson and Dave Weldon — are beginning to suggest that we need some sort of plan ‘B:’