> ... but the folks who created the International Space Station would have been left to find their own opportunities, with unknown consequences.
Space-X and its ilk decades earlier? Might not have been too bad...
Except of course half of them might have gone to work for Russia (or those private actors) developing ICBMs and hypersonic missiles. So maybe we'd all be speaking Russian now, praising God-Emperor Putler. (ETA: or Elon or Jeff. But those, probably in English. Small mercies...)
Space-X and its ilk decades earlier? Might not have been too bad...
Except of course half of them might have gone to work for Russia (or those private actors) developing ICBMs and hypersonic missiles. So maybe we'd all be speaking Russian now, praising God-Emperor Putler. (ETA: or Elon or Jeff. But those, probably in English. Small mercies...)