WASHINGTON -- Getting to space is about to be outsourced.
The Obama administration on Monday will propose in its new budgetspending billions of dollars to encourage private companies tobuild, launch and operate spacecraft for NASA and others. Uncle Samwould buy its astronauts a ride into space just like hopping in ataxi.
The idea is that getting astronauts into orbit, which NASA hasbeen doing for 49 years, is getting to be so old hat that someoneother than the government can do it. It's no longer really the RightStuff. Going private would free the space agency to do other things,such as explore beyond Earth's orbit, do more research and study theEarth with better satellites. And it would spur a new generation ofprivate companies -- even some with Internet roots -- to innovate.
But there's some concern about that -- from former NASA officialsworried about safety and from congressional leaders worried aboutlost jobs. Some believe space is still a tough, dangerous enterprisenot to be left to private companies out for a buck. Government wouldlose vital knowledge and control, critics fear.
Proponents of private space, an idea that has been kicking aroundfor nearly 20 years, point to the airline industry in its infancy.Initially the Army flew most planes. But private companieseventually started building and operating aircraft, especially whenthey got a guaranteed customer in the U.S. government to deliver airmail.
That's what NASA would be: a guaranteed customer to ferryastronauts to the International Space Station through 2020. It wouldbe similar to the few years that NASA paid Russia to fly astronautson its Soyuz after the Columbia accident in 2003.
"With a $6 billion program you can have multiple winners. You'llliterally have your Blackberry, your iPhone and your Android phoneall competing for customers in the marketplace," said John Gedmark,executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. TheWhite House has said it will be adding $5.9 billion to the overallNASA budget over five years; Gedmark believes most or all will go tocommercial space.
Mike Gold, corporate counsel at Bigelow Aerospace, which isbuilding the first commercial space station and is a potentialspacecraft provider, believes the government should have privatizedastronaut launchings decades ago.
"It will force the aerospace world to become competitive againand restore us to our glory days," Gold said.
Last year as part of the stimulus package, NASA said it wouldgive out $50 million in seed and planning money for the idea of acommercial spaceship. Several firms expressed interest and NASA willsoon pick a winner or winners.
American University public policy professor and space expertHoward McCurdy said this is not as radical as it seems. The shuttlewas built not by government workers but by Rockwell International, aprivate company. Then in 1996 the Clinton administration outsourcedthe shuttle's day-to-day launch and other operations to a privatecompany.
"This is something that NASA has been drifting toward in the last25 years," McCurdy said.
But the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, created after NASA'sfirst fatal accident, warned that the existing private rockets arenot rated by the government as safe for people to fly on. That hasto be addressed with testing and study before jumping intocommercial space, the panel said.
It's not that it is impossible to certify these rockets as safeenough for astronauts but it is a long process that is not spelledout, said former NASA associate administrator Scott Pace, now aspace policy professor at George Washington University.
Peter Diamandis, founder of the X Prize Foundation, whichsponsored a competition in suborbital spaceflight, dismissed safetyworries: "We don't fly on U.S. Air Government. We fly on Southwestand JetBlue."
The Federal Aviation Administration, which has a commercial spacedivision, would regulate private space safety and other issues.
Pace cautioned that Clinton era efforts to privatize parts of theNational Reconnaissance Organization, which builds and operates U.S.spy satellites, as a failure and this could be similar. He addedthat there's such strong support in Congress for the current spaceprogram a change may be difficult to get through Capitol Hill.
New York University government professor Paul Light said: "Mygeneral caution is be careful about what you give away. It's awfulexpensive to get it back."
But there should be a lot of interest in giving astronauts theride if the price is right, Gedmark said.
The leading contenders -- most are mum at this point -- to buildprivate spaceships include established aerospace giants, such asBoeing Co. of Chicago and Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md., whichbuilt most of America's rockets and capsules. Boeing and LockheedMartin have existing rocket families in Delta and Atlas, whichlaunch commercial and government satellites regularly and reliably,but for the moment aren't rated by the government to be safe enoughfor humans. That may change.
But it's the newer space guard that brings some excitement to thefield. PayPal founder Elon Musk may be ahead of most. His SpaceXalready has a Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule. Other companiesbeing mentioned include Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Va., BigelowAerospace of Las Vegas and Sierra Nevada Corp. of Sparks, Nev.
In the 1980s, Tiffany Montague grew up wanting to get into spaceand figured she had to work for the government to do that. Shejoined the Air Force and was a high-altitude pilot. But now sheworks for Google, running a $30 million prize to encourage privatecompanies to build a rover that can run around the moon.
"We're broadly interested in opening up space to everyone,"Montague said in a phone interview Friday. She said Google is"supportive of commercial spaceflight, we're enthusiasts. But we'renot space entrepreneurs -- at least not yet. Who knows what we mightdo in the future."
On the Net:
NASA: www.nasa.gov/
Commercial Spaceflight Federation: www.commercialspaceflight.org/
Bigelow Aerospace: www.bigelowaerospace.com/
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel: www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oer/asap/index.html
X Prize Foundation: www.xprize.org/
Google Lunar X Prize: www.googlelunarxprize.org/
SpaceX: www.spacex.com/
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