RE: Boeing preps commercial capsule spaceship; transports people to space stations
I think this is all to the good - if it comes off.
The more options to reach LEO - for both cargo and humans - the better. With no disrespect to the engineers at MSFC, it's becoming apparent how much faster and more cheaply private companies can create hardware outside the normal cost-plus framework (yes, even while acknowledging that Orion is designed for ambitious mission requirements than CST-100 and Dragon).
When Apollo ended in 1975, the U.S. had no means for human access to LEO for six years. We face another such window again, albeit perhaps for less duration if the Senate bill passed yesterday becomes reality. It would be desirable that this not happen again in the future should NASA's program of record run into troubles again. More to the point, it makes a better argument for getting NASA out of LEO access and back to beyond earth orbit exploration.
