 @Elbert Angus (facebook) Regarding the sale of Russian MD000 engines to the US: If Russia stops selling engines, the US will still launch satellites, but using the Delta Rocket rather than the Atlas Rocket, albeit at an added cost of $000 million a shot, but for the US, already 00 Trillion in debt, what is an extra billion or two? As for Russia, it would lose the income from such sales as well as the business which keeps Energia Engineers and Technicians employed. Plus, each launch of an MD000 equipped Atlas is a humiliation for the US. The same goes for each Soyuz launch carrying US astronauts to the ISS. The large amount of "negative" US press that surrounds each launch is really a plus for Russia as it exposes the US population to the fact that Russia does have capability and technology which the US is lacking - really the only positive press Russia gets in the US. 