Astronaut Group Endorses Commercial Spaceflight

FleaPlus writes "Buzz Aldrin and twelve other astronauts have published a joint endorsement of commercial human spaceflight, stating that '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, [the astronauts] believe that the commercial sector is fully capable of safely handling the critical task of low-Earth-orbit human transportation.' They are confident that commercial systems (which NASA already relies on for launching multibillion-dollar science payloads) can provide a level of safety equal to the Russian Soyuz and higher than the Space Shuttle, while strengthening US economic competitiveness. They also support the expected endorsement of the White House's Augustine Commission regarding NASA's use of commercial spaceflight — the Commission's final report will be released today." And here's the Augustine report itself (PDF).

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[Hognoxious]

"the commercial sector is fully capable of safely handling the critical task of low-Earth-orbit human transportation"

Well it's not rocket science, is it?

Re:The Augustine report ?

[frankmu]

Well, slashdot has to pay the bills too, ya know.

Re:The Augustine report ?

[Anonymous Coward]

that should teach you to (attempt to) read the article.

Re:Perhaps Buzz cares for a different reason?

[Z1NG]

Man, Buzz Aldrin will punch you in the face.

Re:Questionable Spin

[Monkeedude1212]

Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.