Comment Re:"An anonymous reader" (Score 2) 112
It seems to me that NASA should simply contract those basic research payloads on top of SpaceX rockets, if SpaceX can get them into orbit for fewer dollars than NASA's own internal teams can. Why waste resources?
That's the way NASA currently does business: launch services are purchased.
SpaceX developed Falcon-9 on a NASA contract, specifically in order to be a vehicle that can be purchased for launch services. ("Commercial Orbital Transportation Services" was the name of the contract.)