Freedomain Radio

SpaceX mission control vs. NASA mission control

Why did I see so many binders (presumably filled with paper) on the desks of the engineers at NASA's Mission control yesterday when they were docking SpaceX's Dragon module to the Space Station?

In contrast, the SpaceX folks had (almost) none at there mission control center. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that the government agency is so riddled with bureaucracy that everything must be followed "by the book" so to speak. But this seems simple minded to me.

Can somebody explain to me why SpaceX is supposedly a "private" initiative?   All their revenue comes from NASA.   But NASA itself never built any of our spacecrafts:  they always just contracted it out.  the space shuttle was built by Rockwell, for example.  What makes SpaceX any different from Rockwell, or Lockheed Martin, or Boing, or any of the other subcontractors who've been building our rockets for years?

RandyHelzerman:

Can somebody explain to me why SpaceX is supposedly a "private" initiative? ...