That's No Moon...

Here is an interesting article detailing a conversation the Obama transition team is apparently having with NASA. In essence, they are considering integrating NASA and the Pentagon's space arm to save time in replacing the shuttle and accelerating the ability of the US to put people on the moon.

In part, dissolving the traditional firewall between the civilian space agency and the military would be a time- and cost- saving exercise. However, as the story details, it would also be a response to China's accelerating militarization of space. The Chinese have been working on technologies to disable the satellite network the US relies on to communicate, which the military would obviously prefer to avoid.

I don't have any first hand experience with NASA, or with the Pentagon for that matter, but it's difficult to believe that either entity would be entirely happy working with the other. It also suggests an interesting new dimension for the arms race between these two nations in the coming decades.