[Boudica]

This got me thinking about how a lot of people seem to shrug off India putting a lander on the moon as a 'big whoop'. But what people don't seem to consider is that India did it for only 55 million dollars. Successfully. You don't hear numbers that low that for any space related mission anymore. This also puts them in a very small group of countries that can do it.

I know how much countries love handing huge sums of money to contractors, but I feel like they should work more with other countries on this than hiring contractors like SpaceX, Blue Origin, etc.

Very interesting point! I actually didn't know that about India. I had heard they had a space program, but was unaware of their projects and outcomes.

I also like the idea of countries coming together. I'm a little sad about how global politics have resulted in Russia more than likely being excluded in any of these efforts (unless they go it alone ofc). China, Russia, Japan, Europe and a dozen more have skills and expertise that could be used.

I'm not against using contractors where it makes good business sense to do so, but it would be great if new connections and agreements could be forged with other government agencies for space-related goals.