I can't understand this author's spin. The memo -<p><a href="http://coffman.house.gov/sites/coffman.house.gov/files/documents/07%2015%2014%20SpaceX%20Concerns%20%282%29.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://coffman.house.gov/sites/coffman.house.gov/files/docum...</a><p>is a request to NASA for un-redacted information about the SpaceX failures. They're not asking for an investigation or delays (as far as I can tell), they just want disclosure. How is making failure information public going to slow down progress?
Ah yes, Republican congressmen trying to harm a <i>private</i> company because it's doing better than a <i>government</i> funded program.<p>Pot, kettle, yada yada.
With the current state of politics in the US, I'm not surprised by this. A successful privately owned company being the target of "red-taping" since I doubt SpaceX provides the political donations that a company like Boeing does.<p>This is unfortunate and hopefully it goes no where. Sounds like Elon needs to get the Tesla lawyers who have reversed states' legislation against selling cars directly to start working on this too.
The good part about launching into space is that there are many places you can launch into space, including outside of the US. Can't they just move to another part of the world, or across some borders?
This stuff happens <i>all the time</i> to major government contractors, of which SpaceX is one. It's par for the course; call it a standard cost of doing business with the government.<p>IMO it is an example of why the U.S. system of government has lasted so long: it guides parochial self-interest and competition into constructive pathways. In this case, members of Congress want to protect their district's pet contractors, but the actual act is to request public disclosure of data. Which, in the long run, is a good thing!