The after-accident investigations of the shuttle disasters don&#x27;t exactly inspire confidence in NASA...<p>You  probably were downvoted because you are mixing a lot of issues.<p>Energia and Buran were good and probably superior systems. That doesn&#x27;t mean that the soviets didn&#x27;t do other things &quot;badly&quot; (technically, morally, ...), but that isn&#x27;t directly relevant.<p>&gt;<i>&gt;because astronauts lobbied against any and every automation for fear of being made redundant.)<p>&gt; Well, when you don&#x27;t live in an autocratic state, you actually get a say on what gets done especially when its your ass on the line.</i><p>Buran could fly without &quot;asses on the line&quot;, so I don&#x27;t see how that argument works. Which also means the owners of said asses aren&#x27;t getting fame afterwards...