NASA Hands Space Future to Private Sector

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright December 15, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

             When President Barack Obama announced April 15 that he cancelled the Space Shuttle’s replacement known as the “Orion” project a collective heart sunk for space enthusiasts hoping NASA had a replacement for the soon-to-retire Space Shuttle.  Admitting U.S.-manned space flights to asteroids or Mars were some 25-years away, it revealed the U.S.-manned space program was all but dead.  Never before had NASA not replaced an aging space vehicle.   No replacement for the aging Shuttle Program, hatched around the time Apollo 11 landed on the moon July 20, 1969.  Twelve-years later, the first shuttle flight STS-1 launched from Cape Canaveral April 12, 1981.  Shocking the world Dec. 10, private Hawthorne, Calif.-based Space Exploration Technologies [SpaceX] successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.

            Founded by 39-year-old billionaire PayPal cofounder Elon Musk in 2002, in just eight short years SpaceX developed, launched into two orbits and returned the Dragon spacecraft to a safe Pacific splash landing, 500 miles from Southern California.  In a joint venture with NASA, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 launch rocket becomes the next generation of space travel designed to transport cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.  Called NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services [COTS], SpaceX’s new spacecraft replaces the costly and aging Shuttle, when Discovery makes its final flight in Feb. 3, 2011.  When the Shuttle retires, the NASA depends on the Russian Soyuz Space Capsule for ferrying astronauts and equipment to the ISS.  SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 launch vehicle become the missing link to NASA’S now obsolete manned space program.

            While Barack promised NASA would continue to work on a new spacecraft for interplanetary travel, it’s clear that private companies, like SpaceX, will be in the forefront of any future development.  “While rocket launches from the Cape are considered a common occurrence, the historic significance of today’s achievement by SpaceX should not be lost,” said NASA Charles Bolden in a prepared statement.  SpaceX’s superior design, materials and launch system dramatically reduces the cost of sending astronauts and equipment into space.  At $500 million a flight, the Shuttle Program became a costly boondoggle, usurping the government’s finite resources given today’s budget constraints.  Weighing 240,000 pounds at liftoff with a 122 ft. length, the Shuttle became a costly behemoth, far too outmoded and cumbersome for long-term reusable space travel.

            SpaceX’s streamlined Dragon spacecraft weight only 13,000 pounds with another 6,000-pound payload capacity, as compared to the Shuttle’s 50,000 pound trunk.  Only 9.5 ft. tall and 11.5 ft. wide, the Dragon has three compartments, including a pressurized crew cabin capable of transporting seven astronauts, and two cargo bays, one pressurized and one not.  “This is the first in a new generation of commercial launch systems that will help provide vital support to the International Space Station and may one day carry astronauts into orbit,” said Bolden, admitting that NASA has handed responsibility of manned space flight to private contractors for the foreseeable future.  Bolden finally answered the question that everyone was asking:  What’s NASA’S replacement for the retiring Space Shuttle.  SpaceX was awarded a $1.6 billion contract to ferry at least 12 payload-missions to the ISS.

            NASA’s decision to outsource its new spacecraft to private contractors reflects a change from the past when continuity of Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle programs were carefully choreographed by the government’s space agency founded July 29, 1958, only eight months after the Soviets launched Sputnik Oct. 7, 1957.  Unlike past glories, the government can no longer take the credit for space exploration, including building the next generation spaceship.  “This marks the first time a commercial company has successfully recovered a spacecraft reentering from low Earth-orbit,” read a SpaceX communiqué.  “It is a feat performed by only six nations or government agencies:  The United States, Russia, China, Japan, India and the European Space Agency,” signaling that the private sector has now taken the lead in space travel.  NASA no longer mirrors cutting edge space science.

            SpaceX’s Dec. 10 launch, orbit and return of its Dragon spacecraft safely to earth marks a new age of space exploration and travel.  Unable to follow-up its past glory, NASA passed the baton to the private sector to take the next step in space exploration and development.  When the Shuttle finishes its final flight Feb. 3, NASA will no longer command the lead in manned and unmanned space flight.  Unable to keep pace with new technology and growing demand, NASA defers to the private sector to build a better mouse trap, creating the nation’s next generation of space vehicles.  Visionaries like Virgin’s Sir. Richard Branson and now South African-born entrepreneur Elon Musk lead the way in the next step in space science and travel.  Whatever its past glory, NASA—and the U.S. government—can only sit back and clap while a new breed of entrepreneurs assures the future of space travel.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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