A seagoing vessel is probably a better analogy (boats fall apart just floating around) - while there are ancient boats still floating, pretty much everything in them has been replaced at one point or another. In a dock - which is a pretty benign environment. It may be impossible to disassemble the ISS and replace the bad parts in orbit. Look at how much effort goes into just putting a new refrigerator on the outside of the thing. We just don't have the technology to uncouple a module, re weld a section and bolt / weld it back together again.

We likely should be working on that ability but this sort of construction and repair isn't sexy enough, I guess. Space is hard. Very hard. Budget constraints have made it so the US and Russia are really just jogging in place on the ISS - very little real research (such as in orbit assembly) is even being contemplated.

ISS-2 will be put together on the ground and boosted into segments and snapped together in orbit, but it won't be 'built' in orbit. There won't be any machining, welding, wiring, insulating or any of those types of functions done in space. We are no where near being able to do that past the sound stage.

OK, OK. Alien infestations and smelly roses then. Two out of three ain't bad.

Geez. Tough crowd.

Maybe not so smart. Sounds kinda blurry, like a Gen I night vision scope. I think I'd wait a little bit to make sure he doesn't grow things in inappropriate places or start photosynthesizing. But they do have the benefit of previous research as some form of chemotherapy so I guess it won't kill you right off.

Oh come now folks, just look it up.

It's practically on Recipes.com.

I am unaware of the UNHCR dealing with American refuges. I'm sometimes a little out of the loop but I thought I would have heard of that by now. Is it that bad in Texas these days?

I'm to assume that Ikea instructions make more sense in another language?

I've always wondered about that.

Is anything legal in California these days?

I don't know if SpaceX is leapfrogging ULA. The Alliance (why does that just sound wrong?) is responsible for a number of different booster programs spread out over time and territory. It never really was supposed to be efficient - except perhaps in the mind of a bunch of MBAs. SpaceX has narrower, more clearly defined goals.

That said, some pressure on the behemoths to tighten up their act might be helpful - but remember although the ULA is presumably private, it is very much beholden to the Military Industrial Complex which means it is very much beholden to the Congress which means different booster programs spread out over time and territory as much time and territory as is possible.

Think about this for a moment.... We don't have any sort of security clearance and we seem to be able to run this country better than the Powers-That-Be. Maybe this is a feature, not a bug.

Well, there is us ....

I'm not entirely sure what it suggests for the fate of mankind, but we're here.

Now, now. Yes, that's funny - and not a little true - but TFA goes into a bit more detail noting that there is a (rather expected) culture class between SpaceX and the Air Force / YoYoDyne / Lockheed (DBA as the United Launch Alliance).

And nominally intelligent people on both sides of the issue are working in what appears to be good faith to deal with it.

Sounds like a plan.

African or European?

If I had a sword at my doctoral graduation ceremony I would have unsheathed it and ran it through the dean.

I'm not so sure that is such a good idea for American graduates.