SpaceX successfully docked its Dragon spacecraft with the International Space Station.

The crowd went… crickets.

Two astronauts who’ve been stranded in orbit for nine months are finally getting a ride home.

Nine months. Long enough to create an entirely new human from scratch.

(They were only supposed to be out there for a little over a week!)

And why were they (initially) stranded, you ask? Boeing’s Starliner.

Now, if you don’t follow space tech like it’s the stock market, here’s all you need to know: The main problem with the Starliner was helium leaks.

Helium pressurizes the fuel that feeds the thrusters. No helium = no control = astronauts experiencing the joys of random orbital physics.

Put a different way:

Boeing built a spaceship with the reliability of a 20-year-old laptop that needs to be held at just the right angle to charge.

Once the golden child of aerospace, Boeing is now the drunk best man giving a wedding speech about ‘the good old days.’

Worst part…

You can’t kick him off stage because, “Come on! It’s Barry! Everyone loves Barry!”

But we’re not here to talk about Barry.

What really matters is the narrative—Elon Musk, America, broken promises…

And the strange opportunity hiding underneath it all.

Where’s My Jetpack?!

Tesla is tanking, Starship exploded (again), boycotts are mounting, and Musk’s net worth is scattering like a fleet of Cybertrucks in a Whole Foods parking lot.

So, Musk got a much-needed win.

But the real question: Since when did docking with the ISS become victory fireworks for America?

The U.S. used to own space.

We’re supposed to have jetpacks by now. Flying cars.Cities on Mars.

Space lounges where the drinks are strong, the gravity is weak, and the bill makes you wonder if you’re in the wrong profession.

Instead, NASA keeps backpedaling its Artemis program. The big problem? None of the pieces are actually ready.

• The Orion spacecraft: Last time, its heat shield started disintegrating. NASA’s solution? Change the re-entry angle and hope for the best.

• The Lunar Gateway station? Originally set to launch on NASA’s SLS rocket, now maybe SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy will do it in 2027. Maybe.

• The lunar rover? Not built. NASA outsourced it. The companies responsible now have three years to turn sci-fi concept art into a functioning machine.

• The new space suits? Technically exist. Never tested on the Moon. NASA says that’s fine because “safety redundancies.” Translation: “We’ll wing it.”

Now, don’t get me wrong.

It’s Not (Entirely) NASA’s Fault

Artemis is a monumental project—far more complicated than Apollo, but with a fraction of the budget.

It started under Trump with the aim of putting humans back on the moon by 2024.

It was reshuffled under Biden, who deemed the 2024 goal as overly-ambitious. Now that Trump’s back, it’s probably going to be reshuffled again.

Also, NASA did not choose the fastest or best providers—it was forced to work with politically entrenched aerospace giants. (Because, come on, everyone loves Barry!)

So what’s the likely outcome? Delay. More delay. Then, probably, a lot more delay.

China, meanwhile, is watching all of this unfold with the calm patience of a chess grandmaster.

Their lunar program? Advancing methodically. Their technology? Catching up. Their ability to throw absurd amounts of resources at space? Unmatched.

Here’s the crux:

The future of space belongs to whoever can build infrastructure that actually works. Right now, there’s only a small handful of companies doing that in the USA…

With one clear team in the lead.

(And no, it’s not Barry.)