With Falcon Heavy launch, should NASA continue building its own rocket?

Photo: John Raoux, STF

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A Falcon 9 SpaceX heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. The Falcon Heavy, has three first-stage boosters, strapped together with 27 engines in all. (AP Photo/John Raoux) less

Photo: John Raoux, STF

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U.S. House Space Subcommittee Chairman Brian Babin (R-TX) joined President Trump today at the White House as he signed Space Policy Directive – 1 urging NASA to return Americans to the Moon and encourage human space exploration to Mars and beyond. less

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This image from video provided by SpaceX shows the company's spacesuit in Elon Musk's red Tesla sports car which was launched into space during the first test flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (SpaceX via AP) less

Photo: HONS

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The crowd cheers the launch Tuesday of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at Cape Canaveral. The launch pad was the same one used by NASA narly 50 years ago for the Apollo 11 moon mission. (Joe Burbank /Orlando Sentinel via AP) less

Photo: Joe Burbank, MBO

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Elon Musk, founder, CEO, and lead designer of SpaceX, speaks at a news conference after the Falcon 9 SpaceX heavy rocket launched successfully from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/John Raoux) less

Photo: John Raoux, STF

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Photo: John Raoux, STF

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Two of the three Falcon Heavy first-stage boosters flew back for side-by-side landings on Tuesday; the third was lost at sea. Rocket recycling is the key to SpaceX's launch cost-cutting strategy.

Photo: John Raoux, STF

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SpaceX on Tuesday sent its 230-foot Falcon Heavy rocket into orbit and returned its two side boosters safely to Earth.

Photo: John Raoux, STF

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Photo: HONS

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Crowds of people, reminiscent of shuttle launch days, line the beaches of Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018, to watch the launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center and the return of the rocket's boosters landing at Landing Zone 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP) less

Photo: Malcolm Denemark, MBR

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The SpaceX Falcon Heavy is now the world's most powerful operational rocket, proving that commercial companies can develop heavy-lift rockets at a lower price point.

This success begs a question: Should NASA continue developing its own Space Launch System rocket?

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George Abbey, a former director of the Johnson Space Center and senior fellow in space policy at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, said that NASA needs to take a hard look at the rockets developed by SpaceX and its competitor Blue Origin.

"It was a very powerful rocket," Abbey said of last week's launch, "and I think it showed a great capability on the part of SpaceX and all those young people who worked so hard to make it happen."

Now that SpaceX has successfully launched a heavy-lift rocket -- though he said more than one flight is needed to prove its reliability -- Abbey said it might be more affordable for NASA to purchase rockets from the commercial sector rather than develop its own. SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket have similar capabilities to the NASA Space Launch System, SLS, being developed, he said.

MORE: Blue Origin passes over Houston Spaceport in favor of Alabama

Purchasing rockets from commercial companies could provide NASA with additional money to complete missions. Now that President Donald Trump is sending astronauts back to the moon, Abbey said NASA will need a spacecraft with different capabilities than the Orion spacecraft being designed to explore Mars.

Orion doesn't provide astronauts with the capability of building large structures in space. The Space Shuttle, for instance, was used to build large portions of the International Space Station. Orion, as it is now, couldn't be used to build structures in space, and Abbey said that functionality could be needed as we return humans to the moon.