Republicans: We don't want SpaceX investigating its own rocket accidents

Republicans: We don't want SpaceX investigating its own rocket accidents(businessinsider.com)

15 points by snowy 9 years ago | 9 comments

finid 9 years ago |

I thought it odd that a Republican senator is pushing for government oversight of a private company, given that his party is the anti-regulation party.

Than I read this:

The senator now faces a heated 2016 reelection campaign in his district — the home of SpaceX's biggest competitor, United Launch Alliance (ULA), which is itself a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Records show that Coffman has publicly accepted more than $51,000 in campaign donations from Lockheed Martin during his career.

Now it makes sense.

knz 9 years ago | |

It's a sad reflection upon our country if the motives are so transparent.

edraferi 9 years ago | | |

Well, the transparency itself is actually pretty nice. Don't take the donations database for granted!

mankash666 9 years ago |

Regardless of the senators' motivations, asking the government to not trust self-provided analyses by private companies on matters of national security and expensive publicly-funded science projects( like NASA's) seems reasonable.

Rooster61 9 years ago | |

I would agree if the committee that SpaceX has put together didn't consist of members from all involved parties. Pretty much the only party not privy to the inside details of the investigation is ULA, which is exactly how it should be.

tdb7893 9 years ago | |

Regulations are put in place to protect people and I don't think the American public needs protection from Space Ex's current review process. While there probably will need to be regulations on spaceflight, like there are on cars, but I don't know what a governmental review of the problems would add to what Space Ex is already doing.

greglindahl 9 years ago | |

The analysis is being conducted according to a law passed by Congress, and it's hardly "self-provided".

greglindahl 9 years ago | | |

And here's an example of Congresspeople saying that the analysis is being done as intended: http://spacenews.com/house-members-express-support-for-space...

pattisapu 9 years ago |

This is an affirmatively misleading title, and not the title of the original article.

The members of Congress have simply inquired as to the sufficiency of the FAA, Air Force, and NASA investigations of rocket explosions that have damaged quite a bit of property paid for by tax money.

Better to read the original letter:

https://www.scribd.com/document/325845340/Congressional-Lett...