[pixl97]

>really silly to constantly suggest SpaceX and other commercial space entities are some sort of savior figure for space exploration.

Why?

"It will cost you 1 billion to launch 100 tons to orbit"

or

"It will cost you 100 million to launch 100 tons to orbit"

or

"It will cost you 10 million to launch 100 tons to orbit"

Guess which one of those is going to 'save' space exploration? Not only that, cheap launches will massively increase the size of the market giving all those good little boys and girls that are interested in space a chance of getting a job in the market. NASA is the market too. If they can drop launch costs 10x, they can launch that much more science.

The space market has been dead for years, it's time to bring it back to life.