3 ms·

Government programs are inefficient. Also NASA is a former of it's self, funding wise.

• stetrain 4y ago
  The development of Falcon 9, Dragon Cargo, Dragon Crew, and now Starship have all been partially funded as Government Programs. The difference is that a faction within NASA has been fighting to run these and other projects as open-bid commercial service contracts, where NASA can provide detailed requirements but not dictate specifically where and how the vehicles are built, and this has encouraged diversity and competition in these markets. Traditional NASA development projects (like the SLS rocket) are micromanaged by congress in the budget, where congress dictates specifics of rocket design to ensure specific contractors in specific states receive a slice of the pie in defense-industry style cost-plus contracts.