My Sources

NASA. "Satellites For Sale" via wikimedia, 4/9/09. Public Domain.

 Everyone has done research on one thing or another throughout their life. Whether it's your next meal or that big report you have coming up for work. Research needs sources to support data and facts that you present. Following are my sources for the issue of commercial space flight and NASA's use of it. What people would you like to hear from as a source?

• Meg Urry at CNN: Private space travel: A new era begins? - The source comes from CNN, which is a reputable source of news, as in they are a major new media source. The author, Meg Urry, an American astrophysicist, is the president of the American Astronomical Society, and worker on the Hubble space telescope, is a reliable and knowledgeable source of information. This article did come out on May 22nd, 2012, therefore it is somewhat dated to the past successes of commercial space flight, as it was just before SpaceX was to make a key launch to the ISS the coming Saturday after the article was released. This sources represents the engineers and workers in the industry that this affects, but it also offers how people felt before the launch of commercial flight, and how optimistic people are about the program, and information on how this will allow NASA to continue its own goals.
• Brad Chacos at Digital Trends: Nasa VS. The Free Market: Which is Better for American Space Domiance? - Digital Trends is a lesser known online source that may not have the reputation or resources like large sites to confirm all of their facts. Brad Chacos, also, only has credential of being involved and active in the space journalism and PC journalism department, but no further education in the subject. This source also came out August 31st, 2012, just after the passing of Neil Armstrong, which reminded the author about Armstrong's feelings about commercial flight, which saw weakness in relying on the commercial industry, giving me the view of both a former astronaut and person interested in the story. This source also gave me an argument against commercial flight and the author's retort to that point.
• Jason Davis and Casey Dreier at Planetary: NASA Kicks off a Private Space Race Between Boeing and SpaceX - The Plantary Society is a nonprofit organization designed to promote education of space advancements and that field. Casey Dreier, the Director of Space Policy at the organization, and Jason Davis, a journalist who specializes in space and digital trends, also won a space grant from NASA for a documentary. These all point to resources that don't have quite the money to do in depth research, but knowledgeable people working in that field, that try to tell facts. Coming out the 17th of September 2014, it is fairly recent, and covers the contracts between Boeing, SpaceX, and NASA, that occured in that time period. This articles gives me good facts on the contracts between the companies, the time tables for the launches, and the cost of the missions.
• Scott Simon at NPR: Virgin Galactic Crash Raises Questions About Private Space Ventures -Coming from NPR, interviewing a book writer, Joel Glenn Brenner, focusing on the SpaceShipOne program from Virgin Galactic, it seems like the interviewee would have a good background knowledge and the host, Scott Simon would make sure to only report accurate facts. This comes out just after the Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two crash, which resulted in the pilots death, bringing world attention to private companies in space, and their failures. This sources brings light to the truly hard nature it is to launch into space, and the dangers of letting companies make their own attempts to get there, giving an argument to the advocates against private flight.
• Calla Cofield at Space.com: Blue Origin Makes Historic Reusable Rocket Landing in Epic Test Flight - Cofield is a new writer that has a bachelors degree in Physics and Space Policy, meaning she knows more than the average person about space, writing for Space.com, which is a good start for information, but sometimes might not get all of the facts right. This article, reporting on November 24th, 2015, the recent Blue Origin reusable rocket launch and landing, which is the next step in private companies traveling to space, and proves their technological advancement and how competition will lead to further reduction in cost for flight.
• SpaceX: The Why and How of Landing Rockets - Coming from SpaceX's own website, this is a reliable source on their own companies news, as they are describing why their advancements to land a rocket back after a launch are important, provides the prospective of the companies and why they believe they belong in private space flight, even after three attempts to land and failure before this article.
• George Sowers at United Launch Alliance: A Business Case for Space - This presentation, coming from the United Launch Alliance's website, is reliable in presenting the private companies goals for going into space, and how they can make money by making launches.
• NASA: NASA Hails Success of Commercial Space Program - Coming directly from NASA website, this is reliable in presenting NASA, another stakeholder's view on the recent successes in the commercial space program, coming out Nov. 13th, 2013, after several successful trips from the companies to resupply the ISS.
• Buzz Aldrin at Time.com: Buzz Aldrin: SpaceX Failure Shows We Need More Commercial Space Travel - Not Less - Buzz Aldrin, another famous former astronaut who is knowledgable and reliable, on Time magazine, a popular and reliable magazine, shows a different view from workers on the program, that the commercial program actually needs more support, rather than less like Neil Armstrong was saying. This comes after the recent failure of SpaceX, when one of it's rockets blew up and left the ISS without resupply.
• TCCTV: Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan Call for Bold New NASA Space Program - Coming from TCCTV on Youtube, this video presents Gene Cernan and Neil Armstrong's actual testimony in a congressional committee for NASA funding, both giving their opinions as former astronauts, that NASA need's to keep the Space Shuttle program going to give private companies time to tackle the challenges of space, as they will take much longer and require more money than estimated. This lends credibility to a previous article, giving context to parts of the opposing argument to private flight, and shows the starting event for the need for private companies, when the Space Shuttle was shut down in 2011, just before this testimony occurred.