NASA’s Reliance on Outsourcing Launches Causes a Dilemma for the Space Agency

The spectacular failure of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last week underscores a growing problem for NASA: its reliance on private companies and Russia in order to launch many of its crucial missions.

Artist concept of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) 70-metric-ton configuration launching to space. SLS is still in development, with its first flight slated for 2018. NASA/MSFC

The spectacular failure last week of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket underscores a growing problem for NASA: its reliance on private companies and Russia in order to launch many of its crucial missions.

The seed of this problem was planted several years ago with several cuts to NASA’s budget and the cancellation of the Constellation program, which was to replace the retired Space Shuttle and allow the United States a domestic platform to reach the International Space Station (ISS), the moon and eventually Mars.

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