Commercial Space Flight: Recent Turbulence and Promising Future?

Over recent months, NASA’s plan to replace the space shuttle with commercial space lift has encountered some turbulence. Optimists insist that NASA’s transition to commercially-operated manned spaceflight is inevitable given the ingenuity of public private partnerships, the remarkable opportunities for profit, and the lessons of history. While this may be true, the development of a robust, commercially-viable spaceflight industry involves substantial risk and numerous unknowns. This blog explores in broad strokes the current status and…