NASA’s chief confirms it: Without Russia, space station lost

The rocket was privately funded. $300 million vs. a NASA or Air Force program of $1 Billion. The ongoing improvements to the rocket have some contract support but it is not called out in a line item, or a cost plus contract... but is funded through the research budget of SpaceX. Privately funded with continued improvements.

Most AF and NASA programs have no similar scenarios.

NASA chose to have a higher price contract for the supply to the space station due to the concept of all new hardware for each mission. SpaceX now will own a number of Dragons it may re-use for competing for other contracts. ...or private purposes.

Boeing certainly intends to re-use its capsules.

Every AF launch by SpaceX is lower cost than the AF could buy through ULA.
Yes the AF is buying SpaceX launches....BUT those costs are much lower than the launch costs it could buy elsewhere...

Spacex is selling a finished design to the AF and is NOT receiving ANY development money.

Also ULA demands $1 Billion in maintenance costs before a single rocket is launched.

The idea that SpaceX competes in a new arena of lowered costs and is good at doing so and saving the US money and lots of it....is not a bad thing. We have been getting raped by Boeing and Lockheed Martin ever since they were allowed to combine into ULA.

The Delta IV will soon be supplanted by the Falcon Heavy. Boeing has already announced plans to retire it because it cannot compete.

Atlas V will be retired by the end of the decade and replaced by a Methane rocker from Jeff Bezos. If development goes as planned.

SpaceX is moving forward and will supplant both ULA rockets with its in house designed rockets and is already designing the BFR for lifting people to Mars. If the SLS ever gets used more than once or twice I would be surprised. It is a monument to shoveling money to big corporations . It would be more cost effective to plate it in an inch of gold and sink no more money into it.

/r/space Thread Link - chron.com