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It is for commercial spaceflight. Commitment-wise, private companies are on the level of early 60's NASA. This is the next phase for human space travel, and t
by chton 12y ago
It is for commercial spaceflight. Commitment-wise, private companies are on the level of early 60's NASA. This is the next phase for human space travel, and the first step in that should be celebrated as an achievement.
- ForHackernews 12y agoI guess I don't see how this is historic. NASA has always hired contractors to build their spacecraft for them. North American Aviation built the Apollo CSM, and the LM was built by Grumman. This isn't like Virgin Galactic and SpaceShipTwo, with a private company offering spaceflight to civilians.
- chton 12y agothis is more than just building. It's operating, maintaining, designing and launching, all private. It's essentially the way they worked with the Russians. That's a big step up from hiring contractors to build something for you. And no, it isn't civilian spaceflight yet, but a lot of the technology and science will be useful for that, and it's a stepping stone.
- ForHackernews 12y agoFair enough. If that's true, it still means that "the first mission to carry humans into low-Earth orbit on a spacecraft built by an American private company..." is inaccurate/disappointing.