From: snidely.too@gmail.com   
      
   Alain Fournier submitted this idea :   
      
   > The US now has two independent launch systems to ferry astronauts between   
   > Earth and LEO. If one of the two must be grounded, the other one can step up   
   > to replace it. Is this the first time this has happened?   
      
   Definitely the first time for the US.  There was a year between Gordon   
   Cooper's Mercury flight and the unmanned test flight of Gemini 1, and   
   another year before Gemini 3 (Grissom, Young) became the first crewed   
   flight of the "sports car", and Gemini XII (Lovell, Aldrin) took place   
   after 2 unmanned Apollo Block 1 flights and 2 1/2 months before the   
   Apollo 1 fire (A1 launch was to be in another month).  And after   
   Apollo, there was ... well, 9 years to Shuttle and STS-1.   
      
   For the Soviets, Vostok was built 10 times 1960-1963, Voskhod 5 times   
   1964-1966 (2 human crewed missions, 1 canine crewed, and none had an   
   LES).  The first version of Soyuz, Soyuz 7K-OK, first flew unmanned at   
   the end of 1966, and manned 4 months later (Komarov died in the   
   landing) and Soyuz 2 & 3 (uncrewed 2, Beregovoy in 3) after another 18   
   months.   
      
   Buran had only 1 spaceflight, uncrewed, in 1988, but overlapped the   
   Soyuz 7K-STM era.  The non-orbital jet-powered Buran OK-GLI had 25   
   atmospheric flights.   
      
   I think China has had just one capsule, similar to a Soyuz (which   
   versio?), but with its own enhancements.   
      
   India has not yet crew-rated its capsule.   
      
   ESA has not produced a crewed vehicle other than test articles.   
      
   /dps   
      
   --   
   "What do you think of my cart, Miss Morland? A neat one, is not it?   
   Well hung: curricle-hung in fact. Come sit by me and we'll test the   
   springs."   
   (Speculative fiction by H.Lacedaemonian.)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)