

Human Space Flight Needn't Rely on NASA - cwan
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4344512.html

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marze
There are a lot of challenges in creating a moon base or Mars base beyond
getting stuff into orbit, which is quite routine in the commercial sector.

NASA should have no shortage of interesting challenges even if they outsource
launch services to get more bang for the buck. NASA does some great things
with planetary probes, etc., but their manned launch systems have always
consumed prodigious amounts of money.

By contrast, the money SpaceX has spent to almost complete the development of
their new NASA-funded launch system is approximately 1/20 of the projected
_cost_ _overrun_ of the internal manned launch system NASA has been working on
(the Aries I).

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mattmanser
We can rely on China instead.

