“I still say we could fund a robust program of human spaceflight by selling it as entertainment.”

Without someone fronting the large upfront costs to “man-rate” a crew system, no company has said they see a business case. Even the $20M/seat that Musk quotes assumes NASA paying the $300M to “man-rate” F9/Dragon.

It’s a matter of how fast we all want the capability to be available, and what safety standards will be used:

A. If you want commercial crew soon, and you want NASA “certification”, then NASA needs to provide a good chunk of the “man-rate” money.

B. If commercial crew sometime next decade is OK, and letting the market set it’s own safety standards if OK, then NASA does not need to be involved.

I would prefer “A”.

Your paranoia aside, you can’t spell socialist without cialis.

That word includes within it a male potency drug brand name.

So – see al iz – t

As an aside that company sponsored the Western Open golf tournament and our middle school daughter wanted a shirt from the event and was angry we refused, until we explained what the sponsor was selling.

Then she agreed that she did not want to wear a “See Al Is” Western Open golf shirt to the 6th grade no matter how cool the color.

= = =

I still say we could fund a robust program of human spaceflight by selling it as entertainment. Few tax dollars but lots of corporate sponsors.

Again, I quote Mary Roach from “Packing for Mars”

The Stratos Mission is funded in large part by Baumgartner’s corporate sponsor, Red Bull. Sponsoring extreme athletes is Red Bull’s way of telling the world that the brand stands not just for caffeinated pop, but for, as the press releases say, “pushing limits” and “making the impossible happen.” Teenage boys with little hope of becoming pro skateboarders or record breaking BASE jumpers can nonetheless drink the drink and feel the feeling. NASA might do well to adopt the Red Bull approach to branding and astronautics. Suddenly the man in the spacesuit is not an underpaid civil servant; he’s the ultimate extreme athlete. Red Bull knows how to make space hip.

See pages 251-252

Of course, NASA could not do this. But NewSpace could.

In this era of economic history, i.e. at our current levels of technology and wealth, others do indeed end up paying involuntarily for more than 99% of it to make the other fraction of 1% work. So yes when self-styled “libertarian” space activists advocate for rather than oppose government funding for HSF — even or especially when they grotesquely abuse the language of liberty-friendly economics by speaking of this government funding as “commerce” and “markets” — that is s*c**l*st by any real libertarian’s definition. Anyone who loves liberty loathes this disgusting hijacking of libertarian terminology to support s*c**l*st economic fantasies.

(Fascinating BTW that whoever programmed the blog software seems to be especially sensitive about the word “s*c**l*st”. Hits too close to home eh?)

I agree that to become dependent upon NASA for all things is dangerous, but conducting business independently while tapping into the knowledge base and test sites/equipment is a good use of the tax dollars that went into setting up and maintaining NASA.

I think we can have our cake and eat it too.

For most enthusiasts of my generation, NASA has mostly been some type of god, but we’ve come to the point where we’re asking the god to live up to its billing.

If space enthusiasts see NASA as some sort of god, mental assimilation would seem inevitable.

Avoiding that is why I advocate adopting the MirCorp model — seek to go around NASA rather than through NASA.

I don’t know where you’re getting this from. I certainly don’t hate NASA, even though I have been disappointed at what little progress they’ve managed over the last 30 years.

From what I’ve read, folks from Masten, Armadillo, SpaceX and the like are thrilled to be able to access the incredible level of talent and expertise available at various NASA centers.

For most enthusiasts of my generation, NASA has mostly been some type of god, but we’ve come to the point where we’re asking the god to live up to its billing.