In sci.space.policy message MeOdnaDRkLNdwq_SnZ2dnUVZ_qWdnZ2d@earthlink.
com, Wed, 8 Feb 2012 06:42:55, "Greg (Strider) Moore" mooregr@ignoreth
isgreenms.com posted:


Sure. Remind me who Space X has launched into space again?


Using a currently-available system, SpaceX has launched and safely
recovered a cheese-rated orbital vehicle. A suited man, with couch,
would have enjoyed the ride.

The USAF has launched two X-37 and safely recovered one (the second
seems to like it up there); I believe a suited man could have ridden in
the payload bay instead of what was there and been recovered after maybe
2 orbits.

But what can NASA do with its currently-available systems? Redstone,
Atlas, Titan, Saturn, Shuttle are history - only the Shuttle can fly
again, and for that it now needs a 747.

SpaceX is not now as good as, in the past, NASA was (though it is
cheaper); but NASA now is not as effective, by a greater margin, than
NASA used to be.




Rhetorical Queries - how many NASA staff, of what pay grades, with what
overheads, etc., does NASA have working on financing Commercial Crew,
and for how long will that have eventually run? And how much will
dealing with them cost the companies in salaries, overheads, etc.? In
each case, include lawyers and their costs.

Non-rhetorical question - how do those costs compare with the sums to be
disbursed?

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