Impressive

[Mynock]

I gave up on NASA when they decided hitching rides with Russia was a viable solution to not having a space vehicle. They'll limp along as the USPS to SpaceX's FedEx but a Government agency will never out-compete the private sector.

[Fred588]

I gave up on NASA when they decided hitching rides with Russia was a viable solution to not having a space vehicle. They'll limp along as the USPS to SpaceX's FedEx but a Government agency will never out-compete the private sector.

This is getting into politics but I respectfully disagree with the assertion that the private sector is universally superior to the public. Some may challenge me on this but the hospital system (almost entirely private) is a mess, private higher erducation is a disaster, as are private prisons, and I doubt if anyone believes that a private military, or private Interstate highways would work particularly well.

[Duncan Edwards]

I gave up on NASA when they decided hitching rides with Russia was a viable solution to not having a space vehicle. They'll limp along as the USPS to SpaceX's FedEx but a Government agency will never out-compete the private sector.

This is getting into politics but I respectfully disagree with the assertion that the private sector is universally superior to the public. Some may challenge me on this but the hospital system (almost entirely private) is a mess, private higher erducation is a disaster, as are private prisons, and I doubt if anyone believes that a private military, or private Interstate highways would work particularly well.

Obviously we could go round and round about all of this without any real resolution. The big thing that Spacex has going for it are clear goals with determined leadership. John Kennedy was president the last and only time really that we had that going for NASA. Elon is able to say we are going to do this particular thing and doesn't even have stock holders to interfere with his decisions. Physics and finances are his decisions makers. That makes his job much much easier than any public institution could have. Hopefully by the end of this year he will be flying NASA astronauts and his own soon after. His final goal is to get to Mars and make humanity a multi-planetary species. NASA's current rocket building plans are a jobs program. The only goal there is to keep people voting for the party they are beholding to at the time. That's not a proper motivation for exploring and colonizing the high frontier.

Soon you will see the completion of work on the Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9 v5, Crew Dragon, and Spacex new launch site near Brownsville, TX. All of that talent and energy will turn to building the BFR. Elon says you may see test vehicles as early as next year. Jeff Bezos of Amazon has just finished his new "Blue Origin" rocket factory just a few miles from the FH launch pad. By 2020 he too will be flying a rocket just as big and really more technically advanced. There are others too and what it means is the politicians are becoming irrelevant. The meek will indeed inherit the Earth because the rest of us are escaping to the stars.