Can't Go it Alone: NASA Announces it May Turn Further Trips to the Moon Over to Private Institutions

In a joint press conference with Bigelow Aerospace, NASA officials announced plans to collaborate and, in some cases, hand over the reins to private institutions when it comes to space exploration and development, including in terms of the Moon.

“We’re realizing there’s other ways of doing business,” Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA’s human spaceflight programs, said at a press conference on Thursday, according to Florida Today.

In fact, the two organizations have already arranged to have two private space station modules ready for launch by 2016 – both of which will be built by Bigelow rather than NASA.

The announcement came just as Bigelow submitted a study of 24 companies and research organizations whose plans, capabilities, schedules and estimated costs regarding space travel have all been surveyed and included in a draft report 40 days ahead of schedule, though it has not yet been publically released.

“This is a holistic kind of effort,” Robert Bigelow, president and founder of the company that bears his name, told reporters at the press conference, according to Discovery News.

By combining efforts across companies and public agencies, NASA said it expects to save not only time but money.

For example, Grestenmaier said, the agency expects that by 2028 the International Space Station will be replaced by a Bigelow Aerospace-owned space craft where microgravity research for technology development may continue.

What’s more, the NASA administrator added, by transferring some missions and goals over to the private sector entirely, Grestenmaier explained that NASA could pursue others, such as lassoing an asteroid, more quickly.

This may be the case even when it comes to lunar establishments, he explained.

“The private sector picks up the lunar activity and we’ll combine and share with them to see what makes sense,” Grestenmaier said.

Ultimately, he said, such collaborative efforts would allow space exploreres everywhere “a chance to step back" in order to get a good look at the bigger picture at play rather than everyone working "in our own little stovepipes.”

Finally, NASA said it expects to release the first part of the Bigelow study within a few weeks while the second part is expected to finish this fall.