Lawmakers Urging NASA To Consider Purchasing Microgravity Services

摘要

Recent successes by space entrepreneurs, the recommendations of a presidential commission and the keen interest of some members of Congress are adding to the pressure on NASA to buy services from new private sector space companies. In the months since the President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy recommended that NASA give the private sector "a far larger presence" in space operations, SpaceShipOne became the first privately-financed piloted craft to reach sub-orbital space. In addition, a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. company recently started taking members of the general public on zero-gravity flights previously available primarily for astronauts, and a Las Vegas real estate developer won government approval to launch an inflatable space station prototype as early as next year.