How did we, a nation that once put a man on the moon, strand two astronauts in space? Answer spells B-O-E-I-N-G. This is another explicit proof that prioritizing corporate profits over engineering principles, quality assurance and lax regulations is an extremely dangerous idea.
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@GeorgeVotesBlue As a nation we accepted the Reaganite tenet that anything government could do, private enterprises could do better and cheaper. We see the same dynamic in health care, pharmaceuticals, affordable housing, and many other places.
If it were still NASA in charge of spacecraft design and production, those jobs would as before be contracted out to private companies. But they'd have oversight of civil servants whose main goal was astronaut safety.