[coryrc]

Yes, I remember when NASA was launching reusable rockets as regular supply missions and weren't using 5% GDP, and did such a great job they didn't end up giving $400MM/year to Russia to hitch rides on the Soyuz for the last decade.

[coldtea]

That would be the "slightly improved" part, "50 years later".

And NASA hasn't used "5% GDP" for 40 years. It has been less than 1% since 1973. Actually scratch that, it has been less than 1% the federal budget, which is much much less than the GDP.

Of course all that 50-years of IP got handed to the "private visionaries" of SpaceX for free, or rather, along with money paid to them...

[CraigJPerry]

If it was that low risk and easy for Musk, why didn't NASA just do it themselves? Or why not some other person? There seems to be quite a lot of space x competitors not doing as well as space x.

[blaser-waffle]

Where is the will in the federal government? If we handed 20% of the War On Terror budget to NASA would it make Americans more safe? Or feel more safe? (an important distinction since the TSA is mostly dog and pony shows).

Standard Fed'Gov contract hustle -- provide a service for less than what they're currently playing and leach off that gob'mnt teat.