Space Walk Shows Need for COTS

According to John Borland, at Wired.com, the risky spacewalk to fix a broken solar panel shows the need for NASA to fund private launch companies through COTS, with the shuttle being retired in 2010.

With the shuttle being retired in a few years, it clearly can't serve that
purpose. But perhaps the new commercial spaceflight companies will be able to
fill that role, at least as well as the Soyuz missions launched by Russia. NASA
should make this a priority when it is funding and helping to guide development
of companies like SpaceX.