Quote:
Originally Posted by Rockstar
NASA doesn't build rockets. It's a bloated bureaucracy in the executive branch of federal government. Politicians set national agenda, the agency comes up with a plan to meet it. All of the stuff we launch into space is built for the government by private companies, even the Apollo Program Saturn V rocket was.
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Very few things are built by the US government. Buildings, computers, cars, military hardware, rockets, launch pads, etc are all built by commercial contractors.
Yes the Saturn V and it's components were made by contractors (Boeing, North American, Northrup Grumman, Douglas just to name a few), but to claim it wasn't "made by NASA" does a disservice to the program and it's legacy.
Atlas, Titan, Electron, Falcon 9, Falcon 9 Heavy, New Shepard, Starliner, Dragon, Starship, SpaceShip2, etc are all made by domestic private companies, some under contract from NASA, some not. SLS is a purely NASA program, with it's own dedicated launch vehicle, and can therefore be said to be "made by NASA".
The reason we're trending towards privatization of the space industry is down to cost. SpaceX handles almost everything in house, once the initial costs of building a new vehicle are covered, the
marginal cost to launch a F9 is only $15 million, 2/3 of which go into building the non-reusable second stage. Compared to the "low cost reusable" space shuttle at $450 million.
That's why we'll see the cast majority of launches trend towards private companies, and away government entities. Private companies do things more efficiently, but that efficiency can come at a price, and sometimes that price is safety. That's the governments will end being regulatory agencies more than anything in the future.