10 thoughts on “The Challenge For Commercial Spaceflight”

  1. Question Rand,

    You mention Steve Cook coming a few years ago. I am very curious as to what that was like, if you don’t mind providing a few details.

  3. How can Dodd have anything to say about where Angels put there money? It makes absolutely no sense to me.

  4. Reporting from the other end of the spectrum, I sat through Administrator Bolden’s talk at NSS this morning. He needs a new speech writer. I had no idea what he was talking about.

    Evidently the people in the row ahead of me did, and didn’t like it. Not one of them applauded at the end.

  5. Ferris Valyn Said:
    “You mention Steve Cook coming a few years ago. I am very curious as to what that was like, if you don’t mind providing a few details.”

    Steve had said he’d like to come and make the case for his program, which seemed a pretty reasonable request. I’d characterize the audience’s response as polite but skeptical – they listened attentively, asked some tough questions in the Q&A, and applauded more politely than enthusiastically at the end.

  6. Rand, by the way, I disagree with your use of the word “bashing” – that to me implies non-directional pounding. Various NASA policies have in fact come in for criticism at our meetings over the years. Deservedly so in many cases… But we try to encourage the shedding of light rather than generation of waste heat at our meetings, and I think we’ve succeeded pretty well over the years. I don’t think we’ve seen many instances at all of pure frustration-venting “NASA bashing” relative to the number of times NASA has (necessarily) been the subject of discussion.

    “Criticism” I wouldn’t have argued with. But “bashing” implies an incorrect character for the meetings.

  8. It’s a subtle point within an overall fine piece. (Made even more subtle, I notice on rereading, by the qualification “bashing.. …as a barrier to affordable space access.”) Subtle inside-baseball points are certainly apropos here, but I’ll have to think about whether it makes sense to bring it up there.

    Really the only thing worth bringing up there is the ambiguity of the Steve Cook mention – that can easily be read as, the meeting was rude to him, a gross misreading of our character.

  9. Well, I’d respond on PM, if the site let me. I get “You must be registered” even after I registered and signed in.

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