[bvogelzang]

I have to agree with you here. Given NASA's position it has to wait and see how successful Starship will be. NASA cannot afford to lose ground financially, politically, or publicly if they bet on Starship only for there to be issues with it down the line. They're not the owners of this tech which gives them time and flexibility to wait for the right moment to capitalize on it.

I can only assume they are internally very excited at the prospect of what Starship can be to them in the future but that can't be fully expressed if something out of their control has not been fully proven. They will jump on this as soon as the risk is outweighed by the benefit which, as the author argues, is in the process of happening.