NASA seeks help

[bobvanx]

<hr /><br /> -- Perhaps most controversial, NASA has asked if any firm is planning to gain the ability to send astronauts into Earth orbit privately. In such cases, NASA would be interested in how far along firms are in certifying their rockets to carry crews, and when such private, astronaut-launching capabilities might become available.<br /><br />Space Daily link<br /><hr /><br /><br />I recall a NASA that would "encourage" private industry to innovate, and then gradually move in like the camel's nose, until they could take over and kill a project.<br /><br />What's different now?

 

[najab]

><i>What's different now?</i><p>Well, if the Vision goes ahead as planned, NASA's got bigger fish to fry that LEO.</p>

 

[flynn]

Exactly, why spend Millions of your own money (diverted from science projects and exploration missions) to get your astronauts to the ISS when someone can do it for [wild stab in the dark] $500,000 a person?[/wild stab in the dark]<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[bobvanx]

I suppose I'm unconvinced that Boing and Lockmart have lost the capacity to apply significant pressure (through their representatives and other channels) to sustain the welfare aerospace economy.<br /><br />I know O'Keefe is a significantly different administrator than Goldin. So perhaps the era of "NASA knows best" (while fronting for the established Big Players) is at an end, as they try to rein in Boing's criminal activity.

 

[flynn]

I've put my views on Boeing and Lockheed in other threads but I fell now is different. the X-prize means that there are a few companies on the cusp of achieving something in space not just one or two.<br /><br />For the first time ever (in my living memory) I feel optimistic about the future of space travel, and its down to the small companies not Boeing and Lockheed or even Nasa. I think Nasa has relieved which way the wind is blowing. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>