NASA Considers Fly-Off Competition For New Manned Launcher

NASA Considers Fly-Off Competition For New Manned Launcher

NASA may borrow a development approach from the U.S. Air Force and seek to build multiple prototypes of its proposed new moon landing craft, and then test competing designs against one another in a celestial version of an airplane designers' fly-off.

Retired Adm. Craig E. Steidle, the new head of NASA's office responsible for developing the crew exploration vehicle, or CEV, has suggested that a fly-off competition might yield a better spacecraft in the long run, with the agency choosing the best-performing design over its closest competitor.

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This would be really cool to see, but considering the costs involved I can't see the aerospace companies being very happy about, unless the government picks up a big part of the tab!

I do think however it would result in a better craft.