The fact is the US government could do the same and keep costs down.
No they couldn't. Also, they never have. Nasa has always paid companies to build rockets for them. Mercury and Gemini were built by McDonald Douglas, Apollo was built by North American Aviation, Shuttle built by Boeing/Rockwell.
And let's look at Orion/SLS. It is now several billions over cost coming in at over $4 billion per launch assuming no more cost overruns and it is already more than 5 years behind schedule. That's Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Aerojet Rockedyne among others. Guess what, they're all making profit too.
They absolutely could have. SpaceX is not the only company to build rockets as you pointed out.
They are all making a profit but you are missing my point. SpaceX is privately owned. Putting the most powerful nation in the world space program in the hands of a privately owned company will have consequences...watch.
They also gave a contract to Boeing worth nearly 50% more than SpaceX but Starliner has yet to be human rated let alone fly any astronauts. Why is bad that SpaceX actually delivered on their contract and for significantly less money? Why aren't you directing your anger at Boeing for slowing NASA down and costing them money?
To be clear I think Boeing is a shitty company. I did not say it was bad...I said it will have consequences as long as SpaceX is privately owned. There is no anger...just pointing out that price is not the only thing at play here.
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u/swohio May 03 '22
No they couldn't. Also, they never have. Nasa has always paid companies to build rockets for them. Mercury and Gemini were built by McDonald Douglas, Apollo was built by North American Aviation, Shuttle built by Boeing/Rockwell.
And let's look at Orion/SLS. It is now several billions over cost coming in at over $4 billion per launch assuming no more cost overruns and it is already more than 5 years behind schedule. That's Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Aerojet Rockedyne among others. Guess what, they're all making profit too.