We need to move on from NASA anyway. As a government organization it is always going to be somewhat capricious and compromised by the needs of politics (eg: part of the reason the Space Shuttle was so expensive is that it was spread out all over the country so each politician could claim jobs from it.)<p>NASA needs to get out of the way, and congress needs to get out of the way.  Yes, some civilians will die in private spacecraft, but that doesn&#x27;t mean that space tourism is not a valid thing.  Civilians have died on cruise ships!<p>We need sub orbit, then orbit, then hotels, then a base from which trips to the moon can be considered.  When all of this is an economically viable industry, then the civilization can consider the possibility of visiting another planet and not having all of our eggheads in one gravity well.<p>Government will not get us there, and at this point, given the hurdles put in front of Virgin Galactic, they are a hinderance-- at least part of the time.