FYI,

"Commercial Spaceflight: All Systems Go - NASA should push the
frontiers. The private sector can handle the business of low Earth
orbit"
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574475091646686368.html

: The following is by astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Ken Bowersox, Jake
: Garn, Robert Gibson, Hank Hartsfield, John Herrington, Byron
: Lichtenberg, John Lounge, Rick Searfoss, Norman Thagard, Kathryn
: Thornton, Jim Voss and Charles Walker:

: As crew members who have flown aboard spacecraft such as America's
: Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, we know that
: exploring space is a worthwhile and challenging endeavor. Increased
: use of public-private partnerships—where commercial companies
: assume a larger role in developing the systems to be used for space
: transportation—is one promising path to strengthen our nation's
: space exploration programs. Public-private partnerships can
: leverage the agility and efficiency of the commercial sector while
: maintaining access to the skilled workers, technologies and
: facilities only available in the government.

: The best place to exercise and grow these space-exploration
: partnerships is in low Earth orbit, where humans have the most
: experience and where economic incentives exist to make space travel
: routine. While it's completely appropriate for NASA to continue
: developing systems and the new technologies necessary to take crews
: farther out into our solar system, we believe that the commercial
: sector is fully capable of safely handling the critical task of
: low-Earth-orbit human transportation.

: So we firmly support the findings of the Augustine Committee, a
: presidential blue ribbon panel that has endorsed commercial human
: spaceflight. Sally Ride, one of America's most well-known
: astronauts and a member of the committee, put it best when she
: said, "We would like to be able to get NASA out of the business of
: getting people to low Earth orbit."

: We wholeheartedly agree. NASA should put its unique resources into
: pushing back the final frontier and not in repaving the
: earth-to-orbit road it cleared a half century ago. Commercial human
: spaceflight is not competitive with NASA. It is complementary.
: Indeed, a strong partnership between NASA and the commercial sector
: is nothing new. NASA already relies on commercial rockets to launch
: multibillion-dollar science payloads and NASA is well along in its
: plans to turn over space station cargo resupply duties to the
: private sector. The time has come for NASA to build on these
: successes and embrace commercial crew transportation as well.

: As astronauts, we know that safety is important. We are fully
: confident that the commercial spaceflight sector can provide a
: level of safety equal to that offered by the venerable Russian
: Soyuz system, which has flown safely for the last 38 years, and
: exceeding that of the Space Shuttle. Commercial transportation
: systems using boosters such as the Atlas V, Taurus II, or Falcon 9
: will have the advantage of multiple unmanned flights to build a
: track record of safe operations prior to carrying humans. These
: vehicles are already set to fly over 40 flights to orbit in the
: next four years.

: Commercial human spaceflight will also benefit America's economic
: competitiveness. The aerospace industry has long been one of the
: few American industries with a positive trade surplus.
: Strengthening this industry through investment in commercial
: development will improve the ability of the American aerospace
: industry to compete with foreign companies. This will result in
: more dollars spent on aerospace here in America, and more in
: hi-tech aerospace jobs.

: We enthusiastically endorse this robust vision for the future of
: human spaceflight—a vision in which NASA is free to concentrate on
: the challenges of exploration beyond low Earth orbit while private
: commerce enables increased activity in Earth orbit. We strongly
: agree with the Augustine Committee's endorsement of commercial
: human spaceflight, and we encourage the White House and Congress to
: embrace this positive vision for our nation's future in space.

Mark Reiff