content: You know we've had a free market in rocketry for about 50 years now? And in the 45 years before Musk we we achieve basically nothing. For the vast majority of that we were actually launching on decades old technology. No, I don't mean technology that was decades old - I mean literally using technology that was built decades ago by the Soviets. And in those 45 years the cost of launches only increased more.. and more... and more. No this isn't what the private sector gets you, this is what Elon Musk gets you. Well Elon Musk along with NASA. SpaceX had a rough start and would have failed in the private sector alone. In particular Musk started the company primarily with just his own money. They had enough for 3 or 4 launches. Though they were aiming for the sky, literally and figuratively, the first 3 launches failed. The 4th launch succeeded but there wasn't even a trickle of private interest. Wanting to change the world is nice, but the private industry is more concerned about money. And at that point in time, nobody in the private sector had faith in Musk's vision. Most were saying that what he wanted to accomplish, what he did accomplish today, was literally impossible. Fortunately the government, NASA, had interest in SpaceX beyond just immediate financial reward. They rewarded SpaceX with a $1.6 billion contract and the rest, as they say, is history. But no, this isn't the private sector. This is Elon Musk along with tremendous support from NASA, though now he's certainly also quickly becoming the king of the private sector as well.