3 ms·
Obviously in hindsight it was a very good idea to award the contract to two teams to develop commercial crew, but Dragon/Falcon has a good service history now.
by cameldrv 3y ago
Obviously in hindsight it was a very good idea to award the contract to two teams to develop commercial crew, but Dragon/Falcon has a good service history now.
Also, the ISS is will probably be retired in 8 years or less, so NASA could simply buy Dragon flights to cover them through that time.
It's not clear what the purpose of either vehicle will be once the ISS is retired, especially considering that Starship will very likely be flying, which completely changes the economics and practical possibilities of spaceflight.
Even in the context of the partially reusable Falcon 9, Vulcan makes very questionable sense, but in the context of the fully reusable Starship, Vulcan seems incredibly wasteful to continue flying.
- Beached 3y agothere is already a number of space station replacements in progress, including NASA funded axiom. the intent is that NASA will become a Tennant on a commercial station or two, and be a customer of commercial transport to and from those stations. dragon, starliner, and dream chaser all plan on serving the iss until retirement, as well as private stations well after it's retirement. NASA and ESA don't plan on stopping their LEO work when the iss is retired, they just plan on stopping the development and maintenance of LEO transport and stations.