Re: LEO Industry vs Socialist Space Program WAS: (Re: Socialists in Space)

Craig Fink wrote:

> >    
>
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> When you compare the two what do you get. In the first fifty years there 
> were hundreds of companies producing thousands (probably tens of thousands) 
> of designs of different aircraft. A broad base of a huge pyramid of 
> capitalist endeavor, all trying to build a better aircraft. At the end of 
> fifty years, commercial air travel was a reality and a thriving aerospace 
> industry had developed. 

Don't forget how much of the drive to build better aircraft was driven 
by the desire to sell them to the military, and how much R&D money came 
from the government for that purpose, as well as the sales to the 
government that kept the companies in business. With the exception of 
Boeing, Ford and Douglas, the major aircraft companies were all 
dependent on military aircraft sales to maintain their existence. Then 
there is NACA- which was government funded, and did a tremendous amount 
of basic research that aircraft companies used in their new designs. 
(wing profiles, ring cowlings for radial engines, the area rule, etc.)

Pat