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THE US is not a country that likes to be beholden to anyone. Remember, we’re the ones that refuse to dip our flag to the Olympic flame. So when NASA representatives go to Capitol Hill these days to testify about how the International Space Station is doing while the shuttle fleet stays grounded, the words tend to sound like they are coming through tightly clenched jaws.

The Russians will see us through this difficult time, was the refrain at a hearing this month before the space subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Science.

No, we won’t need to…

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