NASA Picks Boeing and SpaceX to Ferry Astronauts

[bananas]

Source: Associated Press

NASA is a giant step closer to launching Americans again from U.S. soil.

On Tuesday, the space agency announced it has picked Boeing and SpaceX to transport astronauts to the International Space Station in the next few years.

<snip>

NASA has set a goal of 2017 for the first launch under the program.

<snip>

NASA will pay the companies $6.8 billion — $4.2 billion to Boeing and $2.6 billion to SpaceX.

<snip>

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/nasa-announcing-commercial-crew-winners-25540302

[bananas]

1. This is what Obama will be remembered for, a hundred years from now. nt

[FLPanhandle]

2. I'd rather our tax dollars go to NASA than the military.

It was good to take a break after the Space Shuttle to figure out a better and more economical way to get into space.

[yurbud]

3. The space shuttle design was a political compromise

Solid rockets are not normally used with manned flights because once you start them, you can't turn them off if there's a problem.

The original design was for 100 percent reusable, all liquid fueled, but politicians wanted something cheaper.

[FLPanhandle]

4. NASA also oversold the use of the shuttle even to justified the cheaper version

No way launching satellites using manned vehicles was a good idea. There is a reason the EU and Russia never went down that path.

At the same time, we could have had a world class space program for just the cost of the B-1 bomber program.

[progressoid]

5. Hooray for privatization!

[BlueEye]

6. These "space taxi" operations to low-Earth orbit are done far more efficiently by the private sector

This frees up the public sector do real space exploration. Wait until you see the new rocket platform NASA is developing to (ultimately) fly to Mars. The first launch is in just four years. In its final configuration, it will be larger than the Saturn V. A new era of space exploration is right around the corner, and the most glorious aspects of it will be public sector achievements. The private sector is simply freeing up capacity.

Trust me, I have two relatives that work at NASA, one is a PhD. They're both dyed-in-the-wool liberals. Nobody is against the CCDev (Commercial Crew Development) Program. There are conservatives who feel that even deep-space exploration should be privatized (indeed, SpaceX has a heavy-lift design), but thats simply not going to happen unless Congress completely gutted NASA funding. But they won't.

[FLPanhandle]

7. We went to the moon that way.

Do you really want government factories? NASA contracted with 100's of private companies to get to the moon. No way NASA was going to build manufacturing facilities staffed with government workers.

[kentauros]

8. It's interesting around here how people DO understand

that military equipment is built by contractors, yet can't seem to figure out that space exploration is achieved in the very same way. The Pentagon directs how military equipment and personnel are used, just as NASA directs how space-equipment and space-personnel (astronauts) are used.

Why is this such a difficult concept for folks to figure out?

[Adrahil]

9. This isn't necessarily a terrible thing.

While I favor lots of work being done directly by NASA, Space X, in particular, offers an exciting path forward for commercial space travel. Lots of potential here for great paying, non-military technology jobs.