It would take a LOT more MONEY than THAT! Apparently, in addition to not understanding how FOOLISH making words all caps, and using lots of exclamation MARKS makes you look, you don’t understand anything about the costs of various space ACTIVITIES!!!

You are just plain wrong– and tilting at windmills. But your bureaucratic speak is amusing. Suggest you take it up with CNN, KSC and the USAF. The report was broadcasted and confirmed.

They will not “buy” it because it cannot be sold for a profit. Everything is not up for sale. We blow billions, hundreds of billions of dollars- on super weapons we use to blow up illiterate tribesman in the mountains of Afhganistan- the waste of that treasure is what is not being addressed.

That’s not the only reason. Space tourism is another, suborbital only for now, but eventually also orbital. And unlike Congress and preserving the species, wealthy individuals are already willing to buy such tourism.

Wrong. You don’t know what you are talking about. There was no duplication of capabilities, it was a matter of joint or separate contracts. Having joint contracts did not reduce the facilities. The Cape still had it 2-3 firestations and KSC had its 2-3 stations, regardless of the contractual mechanisms. The security forces were not reduced, they still had to man the same number of posts either way. Anyways, they have gone back to separate contracts for the Cape and KSC. And the Cape went from a private security force to a military one.

As for launches, they are not done by NASA or the DOD, they are done by commercial contractors.

“civilian space agency is very close to being phased out.”
You have no basis to make such a statement, except in your warped view of reality. You have no insight into the gov’t, NASA is a sacred cow and protected by congress. The DOD does not want to have anything to do with NASA’s mission.

If/when NASA folds and the military picks up the slack, SpaceX wont be too far behind. Branson is on the right track and plans orbital flights someday, but he knows his market and what he is trying to service.

You best worry about what you’ll be doing when NASA is dissolved. There’s just no real rationale anymore in the Age of Austerity to keep this Cold War relic around. It’s manned space program is ending and its IG is desperate to create a reason for it to remain a separate independent agency. It’s a duplication of personnel, of facilities and of purpose w/DoD capabilities. Example- back in the 90s KSC and Cape Canaveral AFB had separate fire stations, separate everything… right down to the subcontracting of grounds keeping. And trhey were physically right by each other. It was a duplication of services. A total waste of tax dollars. They’ve since ended it and share services but no doubt other examples exist all through the space community. Why does it matter if a payload is lofted by NASA or the DoD as long as it gets on orbit and functions. It fact, it doesn’t in 2010. And ‘civilian’ space projects have a better chance of surviving the budget axe if they’re at least protected under the ‘umbrella’ of ‘national security’ if run out of DoD. So what’s left of NASA is run by DoD and NASA employees that survive become civilian subcontractors to DoD. Whether you realize it or not, the civilian space agency is very close to being phased out. There’s just no need for this Cold War relic of the 1960’s in 2010.

No. The reference is to both. The smart move is to partner the projects with other nations, if at all. Space exploration by machine is by extention human space exploration anyway, but to be sure, physically sending people is what drives exploration. Ans as Michael Collins said, ‘People have always gone where they have been able to go. It’s that simple.” Whether they’re Americans or not is another matter entirely. Unmanned subs could visit the wreck of the Titanic to poke and probe, but peopled subs make the journey, too. No real reason, right- more dangerous, costly and so on… except the human drive to experience it first hand is the motivation. But to taxpayers trying to keep their jobs, fund kids college tuitions, put food on the table and worry about affordable medical care and retirement, space exploration is VERY expensive– and a luxury compared to the necessities of clinging to a reasonable life today in the Age of Austerity. When your country is borrowing 40 cents of every dollar to operate, probing the mysteries of the cosmos that have been there for eons and will be for some time to come appear to be a lavish waste- in fact, a luxury the United States cannot afford. But nobody is stopping other nations from doing it. Let them go for it. And pay for it as well. See how long they do it.

Great comment, as is the comment @7:07 pm

Doug, I’m impressed with your reasoning, and wish that our congresscriters were as honest with the issue.