[NonZeroSum]

This was a bigger deal even than people made of it.

[Michael Barnes]

Now it’s up to Congress to fully fund the request for commercial crew to enable the rapid development of even safer and competitive systems.

No.no.nonononono. Keep Congress the hell away from all this. Just let SpaceX do their thing and keep the pesky congress-critters away otherwise, corruption will reign supreme. Recall LightSquared? Yeah, congress would go there.

[Tex-Con-Man]

NASA will be thrilled...they can finally quit wasting money on space stuff and dedicate their entire budget to the impending global warming doom.

[daku]

This shows the way for other private entities to compete for government contracts

And the competition will lower the cost per pound lifted

[B.O. Plenty]

Damn straight...private companies should have taken over space flight right after Neil Armstrong et al went to the moon and returned safely.

Of course, there is no way to prove it, but IMO, if this would have happened, there would be colonies on the Moon today, with regular prospecting trips to Mars and the asteroids.

Free enterprise always finds a way to do things better and cheaper.