The Russian ship is, by far, the only means to transport astronauts to the International Space Station
MOSCOW, RUSSIA (22/JUL/2011) .- After the end of three decades of U.S. space shuttles, Russia said it will open «The Soyuz was» now the only means to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) .

«From today (yesterday), begins the era of the Soyuz manned space flight at age of reliability,» said the Russian space agency Roskosmos said in a statement.

There is a simple answer to why Soyuz will still work after the end of the ferry, «reliability, not to mention cost / efficiency,» he said.

Roskosmos expressed his admiration for the shuttle program: «Humanity recognizes the role of U.S. spacecraft in space exploration.»

The program of the U.S. shuttle was overshadowed by two disasters, the ship Columbia, which broke out in 2003 and the Challenger in 1986 – which resulted in the deaths of 14 crew.

The Soyuz program also suffered two accidents, both for decades, even under the Soviet Union. The mission of the Soyuz-1 in 1967 crashed, killing cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Meanwhile, the three astronauts killed in Soyuz-11 1971 when his capsule was depressurized in space.

The Russian Soyuz capsule carrying and crew, less spectacular than the horizontal shuttle landing U.S. has changed little since the Russian Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space in 1961