Hot Air has a piece here on how the Apollo 11 astronauts are viewing the decision to cancel the Constellation program a bit differently.  Armstrong is deriding the president’s decision to close out the massively expensive program, while Aldrin is supporting the decision.  Like me, Aldrin thinks the future of space travel rests with the private sector.

Of course, considering the damage being done to the private sector by government policy for the last year, I think Aldrin might be a bit more optimistic about the prospects than is realistic.  (Although we’ll have a lovely spaceport a few hours south of here, if they finish it.)

NASA is a badly managed agency with serious aversion to physical and public relations risks.  They are underfunded for their visions, often because of their connections to the “bilk them dry” military contractor industry.  While they do good science with drones and robotic explorers, their manned mission future is doubtful.

The public sector is much more likely to do the job on the cheap, but they will need a reason to go to space:  profit.  The space tourism industry is a good addition to the massive telecommunications satellite business, but it probably won’t be enough to get us to the moon or Mars.  And I doubt it’ll be an American company that does it, at this rate.