What's the real difference?
What's the real difference?
NASA buying components from private contractors, assembling the rockets and launching them, or
SpaceX buying components from private components, assembling them and launching them using money from government contracts.
The taxpayer is paying for the effort the entire way.
It's not a "bad" evolution, a proper function of government, a proper evolution into more private money, but not what I would call "private enterprise".
MicroSoft is an example of private enterprise, wherein R&D was privately funded. Starbucks is private enterprise. SpaceX is not. at least not yet.