On NASA's Dime ...

Depends on what kind of cards they are talking about. I worked for NOAA for 10 years and had a government travel card the entire time. It was either an AMEX or VISA depending on which vender had the contract. And worked just like a regular corporate card in that I was responsible for paying all the bills on the card out of reimbursements from the government. It was a way for them to avoid giving cash advances for travel. I would stay at X-hotel, use the card. Then a few weeks later when my travel reimbursement came back from the government (direct deposit into my checking) I'd pay off the card like any other credit card.

Could I have bought iPods and other nonsense with it? Sure. But I would have still been required to pay the credit card bill when due. The government wouldn't have been out a single dime. And neither would the credit card company as they earn a percentage on each transaction.

There are other government credit cards that are only issued to office-manager purchasing officer types in the government and they are intended to be used to go get supplies at Office Depot and Costco and that sort of thing...to avoid the more expensive procurement process for small stuff like paperclips. Those cards were paid by the government and any employee using them to buy non-government stuff would be committing fraud. But few people in my office ever saw those cards and they were tightly controlled and audited.

There is something wrong with this article.

Yes, iPods were bought. They had to test them before they are flown. The astronauts wanted to listen to their own music, which considering the close quarters and long duration flights in the Space Station is not unreasonable.

They bought them to make sure they wont catch fire or emit toxic fumes or the batteries explode. You just don't buy one and fly it.

Also, ALL purchases must be justified. If not, then they are NOT paid for. That is plain and simple.

If someone falsified the actual use of the product, then that needs to be investigated.

But, looks like the private sector is still waiting for their Government handout before they start privatizing space exploration.