Tough talk is still talk.

Jerry Pournelle has never launched anything bigger than an Estes model rocket. It's easy to bash NASA and claim that you could do better. Any fool can do that.

If Pournelle's method of low-cost payload launches is that fool-proof, then he won't have any problem attracting a billion dollars from investors. The vaunted private sector will certainly see the wisdom of his superior rocket design and -- like Robert Heinlein's movie "Destination Moon" -- Pournelle will be planting a flag on the lunar surface within a couple of years.

Or would, if Pournelle weren't full of hot air.