
Republicans: We don't want SpaceX investigating its own rocket accidents - snowy
http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-accident-coffman-congressional-letter-2016-9
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finid
I thought it odd that a Republican senator is pushing for government oversight
of a private company, given that his party is the anti-regulation party.

Than I read this:

 _The senator now faces a heated 2016 reelection campaign in his district —
the home of SpaceX 's biggest competitor, United Launch Alliance (ULA), which
is itself a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Records show that Coffman has publicly accepted more than $51,000 in campaign
donations from Lockheed Martin during his career._

Now it makes sense.

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knz
It's a sad reflection upon our country if the motives are so transparent.

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edraferi
Well, the transparency itself is actually pretty nice. Don't take the
donations database for granted!

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mankash666
Regardless of the senators' motivations, asking the government to not trust
self-provided analyses by private companies on matters of national security
and expensive publicly-funded science projects( like NASA's) seems reasonable.

~~~
greglindahl
The analysis is being conducted according to a law passed by Congress, and
it's hardly "self-provided".

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greglindahl
And here's an example of Congresspeople saying that the analysis is being done
as intended: [http://spacenews.com/house-members-express-support-for-
space...](http://spacenews.com/house-members-express-support-for-spacex-
accident-investigation/)

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pattisapu
This is an affirmatively misleading title, and not the title of the original
article.

The members of Congress have simply inquired as to the sufficiency of the FAA,
Air Force, and NASA investigations of rocket explosions that have damaged
quite a bit of property paid for by tax money.

Better to read the original letter:

[https://www.scribd.com/document/325845340/Congressional-
Lett...](https://www.scribd.com/document/325845340/Congressional-Letter-to-AF-
NASA-FAA-on-Assured-Access-to-
Space?content=10079&ad_group=Online+Tracking+Link&campaign=Skimbit%2C+Ltd.&keyword=ft500noi&source=impactradius&medium=affiliate&irgwc=1)

