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Comment by bumby | original | SpaceX catches the Starship to end Flight 15
[−]bumby · 2026-11-15 Sun 05:14 UTC · link
I mean, Musk himself stated SpaceX needed NASA. New entrants especially benefit from a self insured customer because private industry won’t accept that level of risk.

I agree with a lot of your point, but would probably caveat a lot of the JPL work.

[−]WalterBright · 2026-11-15 Sun 09:04 UTC · link
NASA did not invest in SpaceX. What they did was buy launches from SpaceX. Musk risked everything he had on SpaceX.
[−]bumby · 2026-11-15 Sun 12:42 UTC · link
You are shoehorning in an entirely different argument. The question is not about whether NASA invested, or loaned, or contracted or whatever other funding mechanism. It is whether their existence is predicated on the existence of the other, and whether they are both dealing with the same problems.

When people fail to acknowledge that, it becomes a vehicle for a digression and creates tired discussions that follow the same well-worn paths.