Externalities

theeconomist:

To many Americans, [the end of the shuttle programme and the reliance on other providers] looks like a sorry end to the glorious chapter Kennedy opened half a century ago. He set out to make America’s achievements in space an emblem of national greatness, and the project succeeded. Yet it did not escape the notice of critics even at the time that this entailed an irony. The Apollo programme, which was summoned into being in order to demonstrate the superiority of the free-market system, succeeded by mobilising vast public resources within a centralised bureaucracy under government direction. In other words, it mimicked aspects of the very command economy it was designed to repudiate.

I’ll watch with interest to see how the planned outsourcing of space launches goes. I’m hopeful.

NASA: “The [Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules] are named for significant engineers in Italian history, Rafaello, Leonardo and Donatello. This is the logo for the 3 Italian named modules developed by MPLM team members. The logo, copyrighted by Mirage Studios, depicts a ninja turtle in an astronaut flight suit.”