

Reading directly from your source: one of NASA’s key drivers have been RELIABILITY, and a “non-industrial” culture. Of course both of these things drive cost up. “Industrial” cultures have eliminated creativity since Henry Ford introduced the assembly line at his plant–everyone has a single efficient responsibility and it makes everyone miserable as a result, leading to nobody giving a single damn at the end of the day.
In the same paragraph you linked: “The low Shuttle flight rate not only makes for inefficient use of personnel and facilities, it distorts the cost per flight calculations because of high fixed costs.” (Rutledge, 93-4063)” Meaning that if they had modified their program and product to launch more frequently like SpaceX does, then the costs would be much more favorable.
And also: "Another key factor in SpaceX’s low costs is its young, highly motivated workforce of top graduates willing to work significant unpaid overtime. " This is NOT a good thing–people shouldn’t have to slave away for their career. It’s also not sustainable, and it means that the work is being done by inexperienced individuals which leads to disasters like:
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/18/texas-space-x-lawsuit-tceq-pollution/, and
I get it, you’re just trolling. There is no valid argument here; NASA is a government institution who’s intention is to serve the people through scientific advancement, not scrounge up a fucking profit. I literally just showed you that SpaceX is only more “efficient” by taking advantage of people, which is the complete opposite end of the spectrum from what government is supposed to do. They are not even competitors. They’re not even competing; SpaceX will never develop the technology that NASA did, that SpaceX relied on to be in business in the first place.
The original conversation wasn’t even about money, efficiency, or profit; it was about the ability to create and benefit society. Because SpaceX has a profit motive, it will never be able to create and innovate the same way NASA did; it’ll only ever be able to fulfill narrowly defined contacts. Because guess what? If it goes beyond that, it’ll basically be where NASA is and then you’ll be in here bitching about them too because they’re not “as efficient” as the people they’re paying to do a simple, narrowly defined task with overworked, inexperienced employees as they generate rampant environmental harm.