SpaceX looks like it may do a great job in the currently envisioned outside contactor role. The Constellation program under Mike Griffin would have done a great

SpaceX looks like it may do a great job in the currently envisioned outside contactor role. The Constellation program under Mike Griffin would have done a great job, but now that's billions of dollars wasted. Keeping the shuttles going would have done a good job in the interim at least, but now the upcoming, indefinitely long gap in national manned spaceflight capability threatens to erode the workforce. Having NASA's programs totally reworked every time there's a new president, on timescales smaller than those of developing new spaceflight capabilities and programs, has been a disastrous recipe for waste. Yet, it's hard to knock its record of accomplishment in the 60's when it had a clear mandate that was kept stable for long enough. If only it could be shielded from the whims of political leaders.