The Aug. 24 story on the Augustine Commission [“Obama Administration Mulls U.S. Human Spaceflight Future,” page 1] mentions possible cost savings within NASA’s existing programs spurs me to comment. First, would those “sources” who maintain that 40 percent cost savings could be generated by undertaking engineering designs on Constellation via firm fixed-price (FFP) contracts please provide the historical data to back up the statement? Second, would the other source show his analysis to support cost savings of $500 million to $1 billion per year by using private contractors to conduct international space station (ISS) operations? Over the course of almost four decades in the business, I heard many such statements, none of which proved out to be even close to the initial estimate.