Originally Posted by
J-H
As an example, where is the most "space science" being done today? I'd argue SpaceX. They are actually performing empirical testing and improvement to discover what works and to formulate new principles for affordable spaceflight. Maybe that's more engineering than science, but science without engineering is just words. Meanwhile, NASA and Boeing are making one-use spaceships with multi-year delays where changing one flawed piece requires 13 months of disassembly (one of the "crew transport" things, don't recall because SpaceX is lapping them so much).