Soyuz first flew humans to space in 1967. It's still doing so today, with some revisions in the meantime but fundamentally it's the same system. It's still the cheapest way to space.

Meanwhile the US had to end the space shuttle program for cost and safety reasons, and has only found a way back with SpaceCIA. The shuttle would have been a better system if the military hadn't gotten involved, but capitalists can't separate science from the interests of capital.