Highlighting the point, a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a U.S. and Russian astronaut to the International Space Station failed during its ascent early Thursday, sending its crew capsule falling back toward Earth in a ballistic re-entry. "They are in good condition," NASA said, adding "something went wrong minutes after liftoff." It currently costs around $81M per person to ride a Soyuz to the ISS. - Seeking Alpha, Wall Street BreakfastAs part of an initiative to curb reliance on foreign-made rocket engines, the U.S. Air Force has awarded a total $2.3B in contracts to develop rocket launch systems for national security missions. The contracts go to Blue Origin's (BORGN) New Glenn, Northrop Grumman's (NYSE:NOC) OmegA and United Launch Alliance's (BA, LMT) Vulcan Centaur. SpaceX (SPACE), despite winning an initial development award in 2016, was absent from the deal.