Ah!  There is a big difference, I believe between subcontracting LEO for NASA and a frikin Mars mission.<p>Since so far everything is done for NASA I don&#x27;t have a problem with it.  NASA, like any giant government agency subcontracts out a lot of work to various parties.  The whole &quot;Military-industrial complex&quot; thing.  In the case of LEO where it&#x27;s NASA controlled but privately contracted SpaceX is awesome because they are bringing down the cost of launches to LEO.  This saves us, the US taxpayer $$$.<p>The frikin Mars mission is different because from what I understand SpaceX is going with or without NASA.  That&#x27;s the difference between an Apollo mission, where the Saturn V was developed by Boeing and others, and Boeing just going alone.<p>Personally, I think this legislation is a bad idea and is a direct attack on a global common.  It will be interesting to see how this holds up internationally.  Its almost like the US saying to the world we open up waters in the middle of the Atlantic (international waters) for resource extraction by any of our corporations.  Try and stop us.