

Obama's 2011 budget proposal is expected to face stiff opposition









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RE: bloated
By JediJeb on 1/26/2010 10:59:29 AM , Rating: 2
I am in favor of getting private industry into space big time. I think those that worked trying to win the Xprize have done some great work with what little they have invested compared to government run organizations. If you think about it airplanes got started by private citizens before the government got involved, so did automobiles and many other things that have really changed the way we do things. Virgin Galactic may only be looking at suborbital flights in the short term, but when they have people saying that isn't good enough and are willing to pay more for orbital rides, they will find a way to do it, because it will mean money for them. If NASA gives them money to take supplies to the ISS, then they will figure out how to do it if it will be profitable. Im sure Russia is not sending our stuff up there out of the good graces of their hearts, they just have a big headstart on the tech to do it so it.

Just like shipping, space will only boom when it is profitable. When the Americas were discovered there were small military expeditions here at first, but once it became profitable to ship resources from here back to Europe, the seas became filled with ships from private companies. The same will happen in space eventually, but there will need to be the spark to set it off, and unfortunately that will probably have to come from a government sponsored program like the early expeditions to the new world.


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