[alnitak]

Good article. There's a lot more at the site if you follow the link.

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[Joe Bonforte]

The article is not bad, but had one glaring omission. The US is the only country with a fledgling private space program, and I'd say they are much more likely to come up with an innovative way to make space travel practical than any government bureaucracy.

So why not invest the bucks into prizes for them to compete for? Offer up about $10 billion with a reasonable goal (say one that would cost NASA $30 billion) and see what happens.

[The_Victor]

Bump to read later.

[PatrioticAmerican]

Considering the way NASA has been spending OUR money, we could do without them.

[Physicist]

Self-ping.

[mvpel]

I think the author may be missing something - there's proposals out there for Shuttle-Derived heavy-lift vehicles. Robert Zubrin covered a few different options in the book "The Case For Mars."

Getting the big stuff up there doesn't require a manned mission. Send the crew up on the dinky ship, and the heavy stuff up on an unmanned SDHLV.

[hopespringseternal]

NASA is an organization in the final stages of senility. They long ago bought into a vision of the future where they would be funded on the same level as the defense department or some entitlement. They are still waiting for the fulfillment of that vision, and probably always will wait in vain.

Developing cheap access to space would let the air out of that vision. They will never do it, and are doing everything in their power to hold cheap access hostage until they get the funding they want.

Of course they don't think of things this way, but try bringing up real research into lowering the cost of access to space, and just about any NASA employee will get real defensive real quick.

NASA was supposed to build the road to space, but they just ended up erecting a permanent construction zone.

[jammer]

Thanks, but it may be that the title should read, "The End of taxpayer supported Manned Spaceflight Looms Ever Closer." Seems some private people in the Mojave think they can do it. If so, we know they can do it cheaper and better.

[anymouse]

Space ping

[CyberAnt]

Well ... As long as the earth remains there will be people who will be willing to risk their life to go into space.

Like the recent disaster proves - the wives all said their husbands were doing what they loved to do; knowing the risk.