What I like most about the Bush space plan is the nine year window between now and 2013 when the CEV starts carrying people to orbit. That's nine years for private industry to design, test and start operating the equivalent or better before NASA gets in the way.

Or, perhaps some of the automakers or shipbuilders might get into the act, retooling some factories to build CEVs, service modules, and/or booster rockets. This is only rocket science. Apollo is a known design, and the CEV is just a refinement of that. Electronics are smaller, less expensive, faster, more capable, and more reliable than they were 30 years ago. Materials for heat shields are lighter and less expensive but just as capable as the shields of Apollo.

The CEV lends itself to a modular design for the rocket; an Atlas or Delta or Ariane could loft a service module and CEV to orbit, and other cargo can be launched by an Atlas or Delta or Ariane on some other service module. Many missions will dock with prior cargo already launched to orbit. Mix and match modules to tailor a launch to mission-specific needs. Picture a typical crewed mission in 2018. The CEV might be made by Cunard, the service module by Ford, Propulsion system on service module by http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home, the booster fuel tanks by Scaled Composites, and the booster engines by SpaceDev. LockMart and Boeing might get into it with their Atlas and Delta rockets, too. And there is still room for Arianespace.

If the Congress and Senate get behind this new direction for NASA, then it will truly set America and the world on a long-term steady progression toward getting many people into orbit economically.