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Comment by lazaroclapp | Hacker News Reader

Can SpaceX, at least from a technology and legal standpoint, launch a manned flight without NASA involvement? If so, is it that it just makes no commercial sense? Or is the idea that the flight is far more likely to succeed with NASA's expertise?

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Without NASA there is no customer for manned spaceflight.

Hardly.

The context here is NASA moving slowly and the possibility of SpaceX launching without their involvement. Can you think of a single customer for that? Try to get Russian permission to got to the Russian side of the station without NASA involvement or just hang out in the Dragon until you get tired of using diapers?

If SpaceX can get a manned flight up then I think the customers and use-cases will appear.

Even if it is just a company catering to customers who want to go to space for an orbit or two without actually docking with anything.

Such as visiting a Bigelow Aerospace inflatable space station? They have a demo in orbit, an ISS module in the pipeline, and a manifested launch of a bigger unit on the SpaceX manifest. I thought this was pretty well known, guess I was wrong!

I am well aware of Bogelow. When do you think they will have their first human occupied station? I will bet you any sum that it is after NASA astronauts take a ride on SpaceX. Yes other customers for human spaceflight will exist, but right now it's just NASA.

Would it be a chance to send up Lance Bass?

Legal? If they get permission from the international wotsit that is responsible for the ISS, then yes. Technology? Well if they get permission, they will get access to the required knowledge about docking and procedures and stuff. The ISS isn't nearly as secretive as the cold war era space race, and there are as of yet no commercial interests in there.

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