In this area my opinion has recently been altered a bit. My family has been a part of the Space Program since the 60’s. I worked on the first 2 Space Shuttle launches and many of the test flights of the Enterprise preceding those launches. I believe the Space program is important and the future of the country depends on it.

Having said that I must admit I agree with the argument that NASA is to the space program what the Air Force is to aviation. While I believe NASA needs continued funding for both the Space Station (The one that was initially designed not the Yugo version they have been forced by budget to scale down to) and new vehicles that are not based on 20 year old technology, I also believe that we need to have more concentration in the commercial aspect of space travel the portion of the space program that is like the airlines are in aviation. Until businesses get involved in space activities and a way is found to make a profit there we will continue to move forward in space at a snails pace. We need to step up to the plate and make space rides and/or vacations, zero G manufacturing, and perhaps even mining a reality in space.

What I am proposing is not twice as expensive as what we have now. The commercial side needs to be primed with some government money but it can grow with it’s own funding (it already is now). And the NASA funding I propose just needs a bit more structure in the way the contracts are designed, proposed and controlled. I worked for a number of years in Project Management of Government contracts, and if the right type of reporting is built into the contract $100,000 toilets simply don’t happen.