Progress on the commercial space front
Progress on the commercial space front.
The most important announcement is NASA’s official acceptance of SpaceX’s COTS contract to transport cargo to and from ISS. The first official cargo mission is set for no earlier than October 8.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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Progress on the commercial space front.
The most important announcement is NASA’s official acceptance of SpaceX’s COTS contract to transport cargo to and from ISS. The first official cargo mission is set for no earlier than October 8.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Is the SpaceX and NASA edreavor “progress” or is it just another form of Obam’a crony capitalism/socialism? I just finished reading an article posted on http://www.breitbart.com by George Landruth entitled, “SpaceX: Solyndra in Space.” The article makes some solid points: if a true free market mechanism was employed, SpaceX would initiallyhave invested its own money or private venture capital not NASA. Also, NASA would not own thetechnologies but SpaceX would if it was truly a private enterprise. Check out this article as I would appreciate reading the comments by posters to Behind the Black who have a far greater understanding of the current developments in space and SpaceX as a company. Thanks.
Jim,
You should know that:
1. SpaceX did and continues to invest its own money in Dragon/Falcon 9. NASA’s money is essentially a subsidy.
2. SpaceX owns the technologies, not NASA.
These two points, especially the second, are what make this approach so different from every other past NASA effort to build a replacement to the shuttle.
Nonetheless, it would preferable if the government didn’t subsidize these companies, but merely bought their product like any other customer.
One final point: Unlike Solyndra, where the CEO was a big fund-raiser and contributor to the Obama campaign, Elon Musk has not been a campaign contributor, as far as I know. (If he has, the sums have been inconsequential.) Moreover, unlike Solyndra, where gigantic sums of government money were given to a company before it had achieved anything, SpaceX has gotten its NASA subsidies as a reward for actual achievement. There is a difference between the two.
Robert,
Thank you for that informative reply. I was hoping you or someone would be able to confiim my original impressions of the private space industry. Not that there isn’t a place for NASA, but my hope is that private industry will ultimately be the innovator and vanguard. When will SpaceX go public?
Jim