Infrastructure for space commercialization

[yg1968]

There was an interesting panel on the infrastructure for space commercialization (which starts at 1h18m of this video). Gerst's comments were very interesting and start at 1h45m of this video (his comment during the Q&A were the most interesting ones):

[yg1968]

Some of the comments made by Gerst were to the effect that NASA was willing to take more risks for cargo to the ISS because their cargo wasn't worth billions of dollar. This higher threshold for risks doesn't exist for commercial crew.

He indicated again that NASA doesn't want to create another ISS. They want to turn LEO to commercial companies. They want to use the ISS in order to create more demand for space research and other commercial activities in LEO. He believes that there should be an overlap between the ISS and commercial habitats in LEO.

For beyond LEO, Gerst mentionned that NASA would be willing to use commercial companies to deliver cargo to cislunar space (the proving ground).