Enlarge / With its lunar ambitions, SpaceX is testing the strength of its relationship with William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s chief of human exploration. (credit: NASA)

NASA is far from a perfect government agency. As former space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale recently noted, NASA is hobbled by three major problems—rivalries between field centers, “mind-numbing” bureaucracy, and a “paralyzing” cultural requirement for perfection in all things.

But for all of its problems, NASA remains an organization capable of doing great things, filled with talented and motivated people. And among the goals NASA has committed to is encouraging US companies to invest in spaceflight and develop sustainable business plans. NASA seeks to open outer space for business, particularly low Earth orbit.

To that end, NASA has been a great partner to SpaceX and its goal of reducing the cost of access to space. NASA essentially saved the launch company with a $1.6 billion contract in 2008 to provide cargo delivery to the International Space Station. The space agency is also in the midst of providing the company more than $3 billion to develop and begin flying crewed missions to the station. These funds have allowed SpaceX to design and develop its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket and two variants of the Dragon spacecraft, including the Dragon 2 capsule the company proposed to send two humans around the Moon in next year.