NASA’s Mission To Planet Congress

The increased focus on commercial-style contractors has earned plaudits from free-market advocates such as Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., who say NASA is too bureaucratic. These advocates say the new plan will shake up NASA’s management and spur the development of cheaper launchers for getting people into space. “My sense is that the administration is pretty set on this, and industry probably knows it’s a done deal,” said Marco Caceres, senior space analyst for the Teal Group, a market research firm in Fairfax, Va. “It doesn’t do Boeing or Lockheed any good to anger the Obama administration, because the serious money for these companies is not in NASA, it’s in the defense department,” he said.