Medary.com

As time goes, on, the overly complex Space Shuttle system becomes more and more ridiculous--the Shuttle has been grounded for over a year due to insulating foam. Now, the latest attempt to launch is in doubt due to more problems with . . . insulating foam.

Insulating foam, for crying out loud.

It's way past time for NASA to get out of the way and let private entrepreneurs take a real crack at access to space. The good news is that current NASA Administrator Michael Griffin seems to be edging towards the same conclusion with this testimony in April before the Senate:

We also need your support for our effort to leverage the capabilities of commercial industry to demonstrate potentially cheaper means to deliver cargo, and later crew to the International Space Station.

Nice, but this doesn't go far enough. NASA needs to bite the bullet and outsource human space flight completely. It's time.