Richard Garriott and his father Owen have penned an editorial for SPACE.COM in which they argue that the time has come for the US to regain — and re-invest in — the ability to send manned flights into space independently:

While no one has ever doubted the importance of an independent U.S. capability to put its own astronauts in space, NASA’s budget could not keep the space shuttle flying while simultaneously allowing for the development of new systems. So, the United States has been living through an expected gap of about five years from the retirement of the space shuttle, waiting until multiple, new U.S. human spaceflight capabilities become available. Those developments are going quite well, and the nation should soon have several ways to send American astronauts on American vehicles to the International Space Station , and even to points far beyond any previous human missions.

However, Americans are now seeing just how critical an independent capability is. With the United States ratcheting up sanctions on Russia, now including their aerospace sector, it is all too obvious how much this country’s space program depends on Russia. Some of our main satellite launch systems depend on powerful engines built in and sourced from Russia. Without these specific systems, some important U.S. satellite launch systems might soon be grounded. In addition, NASA needs to ferry U.S. astronauts both up to and back from the ISS. Without the Soyuz, crews could literally be stranded on board the ISS, or prevented from returning to the ISS from the ground.

There’s quite a bit more to it; I would advise reading the whole thing.

(Image credit: NASA)