Comments on: Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) has backed down and modified the language he had inserted in the NASA budget bill that would have limited the number of commercial space companies NASA could subsidize. https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/congressman-frank-wolf-r-virginia-has-backed-down-and-modified-the-language-he-had-inserted-in-the-nasa-budget-bill-that-would-have-limited-the-number-of-commercial-space-companies-nasa-could-subsid/ Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:34:48 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Chris Kirkendall https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/congressman-frank-wolf-r-virginia-has-backed-down-and-modified-the-language-he-had-inserted-in-the-nasa-budget-bill-that-would-have-limited-the-number-of-commercial-space-companies-nasa-could-subsid/#comment-52530 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:34:48 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=17711#comment-52530 Kelly, can you elaborate a bit on your two comments – I didn’t quite get what you’re saying here. Not questioning it all, just not sure I understand it – thanks…

]]> By: Kelly Starks https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/congressman-frank-wolf-r-virginia-has-backed-down-and-modified-the-language-he-had-inserted-in-the-nasa-budget-bill-that-would-have-limited-the-number-of-commercial-space-companies-nasa-could-subsid/#comment-52449 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 04:45:53 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=17711#comment-52449 In reply to Patrick.

That would whip out all the CCDev bidders besides Boeing.

]]> By: Kelly Starks https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/congressman-frank-wolf-r-virginia-has-backed-down-and-modified-the-language-he-had-inserted-in-the-nasa-budget-bill-that-would-have-limited-the-number-of-commercial-space-companies-nasa-could-subsid/#comment-52447 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 04:44:21 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=17711#comment-52447 Also sounds like it will starve CCDev developers out of having anything to compete with for the award.

]]> By: Patrick https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/congressman-frank-wolf-r-virginia-has-backed-down-and-modified-the-language-he-had-inserted-in-the-nasa-budget-bill-that-would-have-limited-the-number-of-commercial-space-companies-nasa-could-subsid/#comment-52446 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 04:42:33 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=17711#comment-52446 Nasa, aka, the federal government should not be subsidizing anything.

They should just use the cheapest, best available private contractor for the service they need at the time.

]]> By: Joe https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/congressman-frank-wolf-r-virginia-has-backed-down-and-modified-the-language-he-had-inserted-in-the-nasa-budget-bill-that-would-have-limited-the-number-of-commercial-space-companies-nasa-could-subsid/#comment-52401 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 01:27:36 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=17711#comment-52401 As I understand it the Administration’s intent was originally to select at least 2 competitors (that is the number could be anywhere from 2 to infinity – most likely continuing with 4).

That assumed that the Commercial Crew budget would be $830 Million. By the agreement apparently reached the budget will be somewhere between the $500 Million House figure and the $525 Million Senate figure (60% to 63% of the originally requested amount).

The intent of Wolf’s original proposal was to bring the number of competitors into line with the available funds. Interestingly 61.5% (the median of the above percentage range) of 4 is 2.46 (rounded up to 2.5).

You can call that Wolf backing down if it makes you feel good. But in reality it looks a lot more like a compromise with the Administration doing most of the compromising.

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