By Clay Dillow Posted 10.12.2011 at 5:09 pm 4 Comments

Mike Moses Speaks to Space Shuttle Employees Earlier this Year Gianni Woods/NASA

NASA has gone to great lengths to seed and cultivate the commercial space industry over the past few years, but it may want to be careful that it doesn’t make the grass look too much greener on the commercial side. Mike Moses, NASA’s deputy space shuttle program manager and former flight director--the guy who oversaw all shuttle operations over the last three years of the program--is jumping ship, heading over to Virgin Galactic to oversee operations at the space tourism front-runner.

Moses tells Reuters: "I'm more than onboard with NASA's plan. It's just that the operations of that system were still eight to 10 years away. I couldn't just push paper around and write requirements for the next 10 years so I'm going to take another shot at it here in the commercial sector."

NASA has plans to return to manned spaceflight via a new heavy-lift rocket and manned space capsule that will aim for points beyond low earth orbit. But it’s going to be a while before it gets there. Virgin Galactic, on the other hand, is shooting for a flight beyond the Earth’s atmosphere as early as next year, with regular tourism runs beyond the space boundary commencing shortly thereafter.

[Reuters]

4 Comments

Link to this comment
aarontco
10/12/11 at 11:53 pm

I don't see virgin galactic really doing a ton of business in the near future at $200 grand a pop for a 30 minute ride. Maybe if there were orbital tethers that the ships could grab onto. That might be a game changer, but I wouldn't hold my breath for it to happen soon.

Link to this comment
Juggernog
10/13/11 at 7:49 am

Atleast he got a job in the career feild that he is good in though.

Link to this comment
Q
10/13/11 at 8:22 am

good at. I believe. ;)

Link to this comment
pheonix1012
10/13/11 at 11:14 am

In order for spaceflight to further be available to the aspiring masses, more commercial endeavors must be stimulated through the process that has been made in government experimentation over the past 50+ years. I'd like to see NASA go beyond LEO again just as much as the next person, but as a spaceflight enthusiast myself, I don't have as much stake for watching mission coverage on TV than I would to be able to find work in the spaceflight industry.

NASA is a government funded entity (poorly funded at that), and not everyone enthusiastic about scientific endeavors in human spaceflight can work at such an under funded agency. However, with greater options based on profit and return on investments, more enthusiasts have greater opportunities to achieve the otherwise generally unachieveable feat of cosmic flight.



June 2013: American Energy Independence

Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor: Rose Pastore | Email

Contributing Writers:

Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email

circ-top-header.gif
circ-cover.gif