According to a front-page piece in Sunday’s Washington Post, NASA officials and Members of Congress are questioning an innovation developed for fueling the Falcon 9, the rocket which is supposed to enable the United States to return to US-launched manned space flight.

Sunday’s article,  Elon Musk’s SpaceX is using a powerful rocket technology. NASA advisers say it could put lives at risk.”, details the concerns of these officials.

SpaceX Falcon 9 explodes on September 1, 2016 (YouTube Screen shot)
SpaceX Falcon 9 explodes on September 1, 2016 (YouTube Screen shot)

In the background, however, is the entire wisdom of privatizing the space program, which is otherwise under attack due to ongoing budget cuts, as recently detailed on this blog.

Ironically, Sunday’s Washington Post details another type of explosion linked to SpaceX as well.

On Wednesday, the company’s founder and CEO, the theatrical Elon Musk, erupted during a “quarterly earnings conference call”, in response to a question about capital expenditures.  “..Next. Boring bonehead questions are not cool.”, he reportedly said, as he cut off the speaker.

Well, Mr. Musk, we think that when it comes to the safety of US astronauts, safe (and therefore boring) is good.

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