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West Texas Competes With NASA


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I really don't get the excitement around the whole private industry space initiative. This is the kind of stuff that NASA was doing 40 years ago. These spacecraft can't carry significant payload, they can't even get into orbit and even if they could they're too flimsy to survive reentry. The only practical value they have is for the tourism industry, which doesn't really advance space exploration. Despite numerous setbacks in recent years, NASA is by far the world leader in space exploration and probably will be for some time to come.

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I really don't get the excitement around the whole private industry space initiative. This is the kind of stuff that NASA was doing 40 years ago. These spacecraft can't carry significant payload, they can't even get into orbit and even if they could they're too flimsy to survive reentry. The only practical value they have is for the tourism industry, which doesn't really advance space exploration. Despite numerous setbacks in recent years, NASA is by far the world leader in space exploration and probably will be for some time to come.

I would say NASA is by far the best at R&D but Russia is better at doing space exploration cheaply and safely. Bigalow, CEO of Confort Suites, has purchased patents from NASA that would allow him to build a hotel in space. The America Prize pays 50 million dollars for the company to develop a ship that can orbit the earth. Also, the company would get a 500 million dollar contract to supply his hotels. Once you have a presence like that in Space , cost will go down and it will only be a matter of time before industry develops in space.

I think NASA should focus on R&D, since that is what it is best at, and leave to the private sector what it can do. Already the space industry in the US is as large as the pharmacuetical industry. It is billions and billions of dollars a year. Houston needs to get a piece of that pie and promote itself as a hub for this industry.

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