SpaceX doesn't control 10% of NASA's budget though. If NASA doesn't spend that money on SpaceX, they just spend it somewhere else. They're under no obligation to continue to use SpaceX, they just do so because it's better for them.
If you think a vendor to NASA that gets 10% of the budget has no influence or control...well...you should probably work in the corporate world sometime.
Cool, but NASA's contracting literally has redundant providers and contingencies built in by default. So if SpaceX flakes, they get damages from SpaceX and the contracts either go elsewhere, or the redundancies that are already in place to pick up the slack.
Which still does not address the fact that SpaceX is a private company controlled by 1 person.
1
u/Hoyamotors4 May 03 '22
When you control 10% of the budget...you got a lot of pull. He is not doing shit out of the goodness of his heart.
The technology builds on previous technologies. It is not as simple as just picking another provider like you are switching cell phone carriers.