Private Industry's Reaction to NASA's New Mission

I had a friend at JSC in Clear Lake remind me that what they do there is manned space flight, so . . . what were they going to be working on if private industry was going to be designing future crew vehicles to ferry astronauts to and from the Space Station?

Some quick googling revealed that part of the NASA news yesterday was that private industry has already been awarded seed money from the Recovery Act to start designing crew vehicles. It's just $50 million which is spit in a can compared to the billions they will be getting, but to not coin a phrase, "it's a start."

My friend thinks there is no way NASA astronauts will fly on privately designed and built crew vehicles, because they won't trust them to follow NASA safety protocols, but what does private industry think about Obama entrusting them with that part of NASA's mission? From Bretton Alexander, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation:

Alexander added, "Investing in commercial spaceflight will allow us to create U.S. jobs, rather than continuing to send billions of dollars to Russia to fly our astronauts to space. With so many capable American companies here at home, why would we send all of U.S. human spaceflight to Russia? Let's create those thousands of jobs right here in the United States."

Alexander stated, "Commercial crew will reduce the gap in U.S. human spaceflight by using launch vehicles that are either already flying today or are close to launch, such as the Atlas, Taurus, and Falcon. To build orbital capsules for these existing launch vehicles is on a comparable level to the Gemini program in the 1960s, which required only about three years from contract signed to the first flight of a crew."

"Using demonstrated launch vehicles will not only reduce the gap, but help ensure safety," emphasized Alexander. "Upcoming cargo flights mean that the Atlas, Taurus, and Falcon rockets will have long track records by the time astronauts are placed onboard. Safety is paramount for the commercial spaceflight industry - commercial spaceflight providers are already trusted by the U.S. government right now to launch multi-billion dollar military satellites, upon which the lives of our troops overseas depend. And over a dozen distinguished former NASA astronauts, including Buzz Aldrin, published an op-ed a few months ago in the Wall Street Journal stating that commercial companies can safely handle the task of low-Earth orbit transportation."

Alexander concluded, "With President Obama's historic decision, we stand on the threshold of a new era in space. The commercial spaceflight industry is working to extend the legacy of the Wright Brothers into space, for the mutual benefit of both NASA and the nation."

In summary, Alexander believes private industry can do crew vehicles faster and safer, while creating jobs and stimulating the economy. A study shows that 5000 jobs (1700 in Florida) will be created over the next five years from the commercial crew program.

I realize this is all very predictable - private industry cheering Obama and government employees in Republican represented Clear Lake reacting with fear - but, as I said in a previous post, NASA administrator Bolden is not waiting around for anyone to convince Congress to kill Obama's plan.

UPDATE: Here is Clear Lake's rookie Republican Congressman Pete Olson's reaction to Obama ending the Constellation program: “ . . . a crippling blow to America's human space flight program,” adding that the president was willing to cede leadership to other nations. The link is to a Houston Chronicle article that shows NASA putting a positive spin on JSC's future.

In other news, India will launch its first manned space mission in 2016.