> hoop-a-la around getting people to the ISS are on the other hand not particularly ambitious, and are also a bottomless money pit
While this was at one time true, I don't think it's fair to say anymore, given that the Commercial Crew contracts issued were fixed price contracts, and have been delivered by SpaceX on that fixed price contract.
1. The cost of the flight is a small part of the overall cost of getting an astronaut to the ISS, which itself is a small part of the overall cost of keeping him alive there.
2. Fifty years after the last Apollo flight, and twenty years into ISS flights, the costs of the flights have finally been brought under control. That's not exactly a shining medal for NASA's manned space program. I will say again - it's a bottomless money pit.
While this was at one time true, I don't think it's fair to say anymore, given that the Commercial Crew contracts issued were fixed price contracts, and have been delivered by SpaceX on that fixed price contract.