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{{Short description|Spaceflight not by a government}}
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[[File:Space missions conducted between 1957 and 2020.svg|400px|thumb|Space missions conducted between 1957 and 2020, divided into state and private runs]]

[[File:NASA’s SLS and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 at Launch Complex 39A & 39B (NHQ202204060003).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|A juxtaposition of private (left) and public (right) spaceflight. From [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39|Kennedy Space Center LC-39]], taken on April 6, 2022.<br />Left: [[SpaceX]], with [[Falcon 9]] for [[Axiom Mission 1]]<br />Right: [[NASA]], with [[Space Launch System]] for [[Artemis 1]]]]
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'''Private spaceflight''' is any [[spaceflight]] development that is not conducted by a [[government agency]], such as [[NASA]] or [[European Space Agency|ESA]].

During the early decades of the [[Space Age]], the government [[space agency|space agencies]] of the [[Soviet Union]] and United States pioneered [[space technology]] in collaboration with affiliated [[design bureau]]s in the USSR and [[private enterprise|private companies]] in the US. They entirely funded both the development of new spaceflight technologies and the operational costs of spaceflight. Following a similar model of space technology development, the [[European Space Agency]] was formed in 1975.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://www.spaceadventures.com/experiences/circumlunar-mission/ |title=Circumlunar mission |date=3 April 2014 |publisher=Space Adventures |access-date=15 February 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212024114/http://www.spaceadventures.com/experiences/circumlunar-mission/ |archive-date=12 February 2015 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> [[Arianespace]], born out of ESA's independent spaceflight efforts, became the world's first commercial [[launch service provider]] in the early 1980s.<ref name=Jaeger1986>
{{Cite conference |conference=Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Space Technology and Science |location=Tokyo, Japan |date=May 1986 |title=Ariane — The first commercial space transportation system |bibcode=1986spte.conf.1431J |publisher=AGNE Publishing, Inc. |publication-date=1986 |volume=2 |id=A87-32276 13-12 |author1=Jaeger, Ralph-W. |author2=Claudon, Jean-Louis }}</ref><ref name=arianespace1980>
{{cite web |title=Arianespace was founded in 1980 as the world's first launch services company |url=http://www.arianespace.com/site/about/arianespace_today_sub_index.html |publisher=arianespace.com |access-date=7 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218002917/http://www.arianespace.com/site/about/arianespace_today_sub_index.html |archive-date=18 February 2008}}</ref> Subsequently, large [[defense contractor]]s began to develop and operate space [[launch system]]s, which were derived from government rockets. 

In the United States, the FAA has created a new certification called [[Commercial Astronaut]], a new occupation.<ref name=":0" />

In the 2000s, [[entrepreneur]]s began designing—and by the 2010s, deploying—space systems [[Competition (economics)|competitive]] to the [[government]]al systems<ref name="gm20120205">{{cite news |last=Szondy |first=David |title=SpaceX Dragon's ultimate mission is Mars colonization |url=http://www.gizmag.com/date-set-for-spacex-dragon-launch/20810/ |access-date=13 February 2012 |newspaper=Gizmag |date=5 February 2012 |quote=''For decades after that first launch, space flight was a government monopoly. Even when private companies started going into space in the 1990s, it was only as providers of launch services to send commercial and government satellites into orbit. Now, all that is changing as private enterprise takes over space exploration in a manner not seen since the early days of the Hudson's Bay Company.'' |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001065808/http://www.gizmag.com/date-set-for-spacex-dragon-launch/20810/ |archive-date=1 October 2012 |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="wapo20160819"/> of the early decades of the space age.<ref name="ieee201201">{{cite news |last=Oberg |first=James |title=Private Spaceflight: Up, Up, and Away |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/private-spaceflight-up-up-and-away |access-date=31 December 2011 |newspaper=IEEE Spectrum |date=January 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108084620/https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/private-spaceflight-up-up-and-away |archive-date=8 January 2012 |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="belfiore2007">{{cite book|last1=Belfiore |first1=Michael|title=Rocketeers: how a visionary band of business leaders, engineers, and pilots is boldly privatizing space|date=2007|publisher=Smithsonian Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-114903-0 |url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/rocketeershowvis00belf}}</ref>{{rp|7}}  These new offerings have brought about significant [[space launch market competition|market competition in space launch services]] after 2010 that had not been present previously, principally through the reduction of the cost of space launch and the availability of more space launch [[supply (economics)|capacity]].<ref name=tc20200818/>

Private spaceflight accomplishments to date include flying [[suborbital]] [[spaceplane]]s ([[SpaceShipOne]] and [[SpaceShipTwo]]), launching [[orbit]]al [[rocket]]s, flying two orbital [[Expandable space habitat|expandable]] test modules ([[Genesis I]] and [[Genesis II (space habitat)|II]]). On the opposite, launching astronauts to the [[International Space Station]] and certain [[satellite]] launches are performed on behalf of and financed by government agencies.

Planned private spaceflights beyond Earth orbit include [[Tourism on Moon|personal spaceflights around the Moon]].<ref name=":0"/> Two private [[space habitat|orbital habitat]] prototypes are already in Earth orbit, with larger versions to follow.<ref>{{cite web |title=Special Announcement |url=http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/news/?Special_Announcement |publisher=bigelowaerospace.com |access-date=1 April 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080331120500/http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/news/?Special_Announcement |archive-date=31 March 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Planned private spaceflights beyond Earth orbit include [[solar sail]]ing prototypes ([[LightSail-3]]).

== History of commercial space transportation ==
{{See also|Timeline of private spaceflight}}

During the principal period of [[spaceflight]] in the mid-twentieth century, only [[nation state]]s developed and flew spacecraft above the [[Kármán line]], the nominal boundary of space. Both the [[NASA|U.S. civilian space program]] and [[Soviet space program]] were operated using mainly military pilots as [[astronaut]]s. During this period, no commercial space launches were available to private operators, and no private organization was able to offer space launches. Eventually, private organizations were able to both offer and purchase space launches, thus beginning the period of private spaceflight. 
 
The first phase of private space operation was the launch of the first commercial [[communications satellite]]s. The U.S. [[Communications Satellite Act of 1962]] allowed commercial consortia owning and operating their own satellites, although these were still deployed on state-owned launch vehicles.

In 1980, the [[European Space Agency]] created [[Arianespace]], a company to be operated commercially after initial hardware and launch facilities were developed with [[European Government|government]] funding.<ref name="stAriane20130301">{{cite news|url=http://www.satellitetoday.com/via/satellitegetspersonal/Launch-Market-on-Cusp-of-Change_40648.html|title=Launch Market on Cusp of Change|last=Engel|first=Max|date=1 March 2013<!-- this is the PUBLICATION date of the newsstand issue; it came online on the internet by 15 Feb, but its stated date is 1 March 2013 -->|newspaper=Satellite Today|access-date=15 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130218050904/http://www.satellitetoday.com/via/satellitegetspersonal/Launch-Market-on-Cusp-of-Change_40648.html|archive-date=18 February 2013|url-status=live |quote=''Although some governments funded vehicle development in different ways, there were no vehicles that were not the product of some form of fairly direct governmental support. Even Ariane, the most "commercial" of launch vehicles, was commercial in operation only, not in inception and development, and could easily call on government support when things went wrong.''|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Arianespace has since launched numerous satellites as a commercial entity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arianespace.com/site/about/milestones_sub_index.html|title=Milestones|work=Arianespace.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113040347/http://www.arianespace.com/site/about/milestones_sub_index.html|archive-date=13 January 2008|access-date=14 February 2008}}</ref>

The history of full private space transportation includes early efforts by German company [[OTRAG]] in the 20th century. Founded in 1975 as the first private company to attempt to launch a private spacecraft,<ref name="2012:May:Torchinsky">{{cite web|url=https://jalopnik.com/spacex-was-not-the-first-private-rocket-company-5913964|title=SpaceX Was Not The First Private Rocket Company|last=Torchinsky |first=Jason|date=May 29, 2012|website=www.jalopnik.com}}</ref> testing of its [[OTRAG (rocket)|OTRAG rocket]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=183768&dt=2082&dl=1345|title=Space Transportation - Critical Newspaper Article on Shuttle Program|access-date=2010-04-26|publisher=United States Department of State|date=1976-07-06}}</ref> began in 1977.<ref name="1978:October:Zuckerman">{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/farms-on-the-asteroids-hotels-on-the-moon-39885/|title=Farms on the Asteroids: Hotels on the Moon|last=Zuckerman|first=Ed|date=October 19, 1978 |website=www.rollingstone.com}}</ref> The history also covers numerous modern orbital and suborbital launch systems in the 21st century. More recent commercial spaceflight projects include the suborbital flights of [[Virgin Galactic]] and [[Blue Origin]], the orbital flights of [[SpaceX]] and other [[Commercial Orbital Transportation Services|COTS]] participants.

Development of alternatives to government-provided [[space launch]] services began in earnest in the 2000s. Private interests began funding limited development programs, but the [[Federal government of the United States|US government]] later sponsored a [[Commercial Orbital Transportation Services|series of]] [[Commercial Crew Development|programs]] to incentivize and encourage private companies to begin offering both cargo, and later, crew [[space transport]]ation services.

Lower prices for launch services after 2010, and published prices for standard launch services, have brought about significant [[space launch market competition]] that had not been present previously.<ref name="vance2015">{{cite book|title=Elon Musk : Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future|last1=Vance|first1=Ashlee|author-link=Ashlee Vance|date=2015|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-230123-9|location=New York|page=15}}</ref><ref name="bbc20141203">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30251863|title=Europe to press ahead with Ariane 6 rocket|work=BBC News|access-date=25 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715063455/http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30251863|archive-date=15 July 2015|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="fp20131209">{{cite news |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/12/02/the_rocketeer_elon_musk|title=The Rocketeer|last=Belfiore|first=Michael|date=9 December 2013|newspaper=Foreign Policy|access-date=11 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210233009/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/12/02/the_rocketeer_elon_musk|archive-date=10 December 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="wsj20150917">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-rocket-supplier-looks-to-break-short-leash-1437339519|title=U.S. Rocket Supplier Looks to Break 'Short Leash'|last1=Pasztor|first1=Andy |date=17 September 2015|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=14 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016131431/http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-rocket-supplier-looks-to-break-short-leash-1437339519|archive-date=16 October 2015|url-status=live|quote='' The aerospace giants [Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.] shared almost $500 million in equity profits from the rocket-making venture last year, when it still had a monopoly on the business of blasting the Pentagon's most important satellites into orbit. But since then, 'they've had us on a very short leash', Tory Bruno, United Launch's chief executive'', said.|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="wapo20160819">{{cite news |last=Davenport |first=Christian |date=19 August 2016 |title=The inside story of how billionaires are racing to take you to outer space |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-billionaire-space-barons-and-the-next-giant-leap/2016/08/19/795a4012-6307-11e6-8b27-bb8ba39497a2_story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119140724/https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-billionaire-space-barons-and-the-next-giant-leap/2016/08/19/795a4012-6307-11e6-8b27-bb8ba39497a2_story.html |archive-date=19 November 2016 |access-date=20 August 2016 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |quote=''the government's monopoly on space travel is over'' |df=dmy-all}}</ref> By 2012, a private company had begun transporting cargo to and from the [[International Space Station]], while a second private company was scheduled to begin making deliveries in 2013, ushering in a time of regular private space cargo delivery to and return from the government-owned space facility in [[low Earth orbit]] (LEO).<ref name="wired20121227">{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/12/audacious-space-companies-2012/|title=The Year's Most Audacious Private Space Exploration Plans|last=Mann|first=Adam|date=27 December 2012|newspaper=Wired|access-date=20 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117134652/http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/12/audacious-space-companies-2012/|archive-date=17 January 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In this new paradigm for LEO cargo transport, the government contracts for and pays for cargo services on substantially privately developed [[spacecraft|space vehicles]] rather than the government operating each of the cargo vehicles and [[Space logistics|cargo delivery systems.]] {{as of|2013}}, there is a [[Comparison of space station cargo vehicles|mix of private and government resupply vehicles]] being used for the ISS, as the [[Government of Russia|Russian]] [[Soyuz (spacecraft)|Soyuz]] and [[Progress (spacecraft)|Progress]] vehicles, and the [[European Space Agency]] (ESA) [[Automated Transfer Vehicle|ATV]] (through 2014) and the [[Government of Japan|Japanese]] [[H-II Transfer Vehicle|Kounotori]] (through 2021) remain in operation after the 2011 retirement of the US [[Space Shuttle]].

In June 2013, British newspaper ''[[The Independent]]'' claimed that "the space race is flaring back into life, and it's not massive institutions such as NASA that are in the running. The old view that human space flight is so complex, difficult and expensive that only huge government agencies could hope to accomplish it is being disproved by a new breed of flamboyant space privateers, who are planning to send humans out beyond the Earth's orbit for the first time since 1972,"<ref name="telegraph20130611">{{cite news|last=Hanlon|first=Michael|title=Roll up for the Red Planet |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/10112069/Roll-up-for-the-Red-Planet.html|access-date=14 June 2013|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=11 June 2013|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411020313/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/10112069/Roll-up-for-the-Red-Planet.html|archive-date=11 April 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> particularly noting projects underway by [[Mars One]], [[Inspiration Mars Foundation]], [[Bigelow Aerospace]] and [[SpaceX]].<ref name=telegraph20130611/>

=== American deregulation ===
The [[Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984]] required encouragement of commercial space ventures, adding a new clause to NASA's [[mission statement]]:
:(c) Commercial Use of Space. - Congress declares that the general welfare of the United States requires that the Administration seek and encourage, to the maximum extent possible, the fullest commercial use of space.

Yet one of NASA's early actions was to effectively prevent private space flight through a large amount of regulation. From the beginning, though, this met significant opposition not only by the private sector, but in Congress. In 1962, Congress passed its first law pushing back the prohibition on private involvement in space, the [[Communications Satellite Act of 1962]]. While largely focusing on the satellites of its namesake, this was described by both the law's opponents ''and'' advocates of private space, as the first step on the road to privatisation.

While launch vehicles were originally bought from private contractors, from the beginning of the Shuttle program until the [[Space Shuttle Challenger|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'']] disaster in 1986, NASA attempted to position its shuttle as the sole legal space launch option.<ref name="uscbo19861001">{{cite web|title=Setting Space Transportation Policy for the 1990s|date=1 October 1986|publisher=US Congression Budget Office|url=http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/59xx/doc5935/doc24c-Entire.pdf|access-date=14 February 2008|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213085324/http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/59xx/doc5935/doc24c-Entire.pdf|archive-date=13 February 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
But with the mid-launch explosion/loss of ''[[Space Shuttle Challenger|Challenger]]'' came the suspension of the [[Federal government of the United States|government]]-operated shuttle flights, allowing the formation of a commercial launch industry.<ref name="bromberg1999">{{cite book|last=Bromberg|first=Joan Lisa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-UebVg1YqsoC&pg=PA186|title=NASA and the Space Industry |year=1999|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-0-8018-6532-9|page=186|quote="On the other hand, NASA resisted the buildup of a commercial launch industry. Launching was for many years an enterprise that was run by a de facto partnership of NASA and the companies from which NASA bought launchers and launch services. NASA proposed to put an end to that enterprise in the 1980s; it sought to enthrone the shuttle as the nation's commercial, as well as government, launcher. The prospect of erecting a private sector launch industry alongside the NASA shuttle was discussed, but it did not become a reality because the shuttle was too tough a competitor for private vehicles. Only the grounding of the shuttle after the Challenger accident allowed the commercial launch industry to get started".}}</ref>

On 4 July 1982, the Reagan administration released National Security Decision Directive Number 42 which officially set its goal to expand United States private-sector investment and involvement in civil space and space-related activities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/spp/military/docops/national/nsdd-42.htm|title=NSDD-42, National Space Policy, July 4, 1982|website=fas.org}}</ref>

On 16 May 1983, the Reagan administration issued National Security Decision Directive Number 94 encouraging the commercialization of expendable launch vehicles (ELVs), which directed that, "The U.S. Government will license, supervise, and/or regulate U.S. commercial ELV operations only to the extent required to meet its national and international obligations and to ensure public safety."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsdd/nsdd-094.htm|title=NSDD - National Security Decision Directives - Reagan Administration|website=fas.org}}</ref>

On 30 October 1984, US President [[Ronald Reagan]] signed into law the [[Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984|Commercial Space Launch Act]].<ref name="csla1984">{{cite web|title=Statement on Signing the Commercial Space Launch Act|url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/103084i.htm|publisher=reagan.utexas.edu|access-date=14 February 2008|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927081605/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/103084i.htm|archive-date=27 September 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> This enabled an American industry of private operators of [[expendable launch system]]s. Prior to the signing of this law, all commercial satellite launches in the United States were restricted by Federal regulation to NASA's [[Space Shuttle program|Space Shuttle]].

On 11 February 1988, the Presidential Directive declared that the government should purchase commercially available space goods and services to the fullest extent feasible and shall not conduct activities with potential commercial applications that preclude or deter Commercial Sector space activities except for national security or public safety reasons.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/spp/military/docops/national/policy88.htm|title=Presidential Directive on National Space Policy, Feb. 11, 1988|website=fas.org}}</ref>

On 5 November 1990, United States President [[George H. W. Bush]] signed into law the [[Launch Services Purchase Act of 1990|Launch Services Purchase Act]].<ref>{{cite web|title=$ 2465d. Requirement of US Federal government to procure commercial launch services|url=http://www.space-frontier.org/commercialspace/lspalaw.txt|publisher=space-frontier.org|access-date=14 February 2008|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080204082111/http://www.space-frontier.org/commercialspace/lspalaw.txt|archive-date=4 February 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Act, in a complete reversal of the earlier Space Shuttle monopoly, ordered NASA to purchase launch services for its primary payloads from commercial providers whenever such services are required in the course of its activities.

In 1996, the United States government selected [[Lockheed Martin]] and [[Boeing]] to each develop [[Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle]]s (EELV) to compete for launch contracts and provide assured access to space. The government's acquisition strategy relied on the strong commercial viability of both vehicles to lower unit costs. This anticipated market demand did not materialise, but both the [[Delta IV rocket|Delta IV]] and [[Atlas V]] EELVs remain in active service.

Commercial launches outnumbered government launches at the [[Eastern Range]] in 1997.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9790&page=1|title=Streamlining Space Launch Range Safety - Executive Summary |year=2000 |publisher=[[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]]|doi=10.17226/9790 |isbn=978-0-309-06931-1 |access-date=13 February 2008}}</ref>

The [[Commercial Space Act of 1998|Commercial Space Act]] was passed in 1998 and implements many of the provisions of the [[Launch Services Purchase Act of 1990]].<ref name="usg19981028">{{cite news |title=Public Law 105-303: Commercial Space Act of 1998|url=http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ogc/commercial/CommercialSpaceActof1998.html|access-date=25 December 2014|work=NASA Office of the General Counsel - Reference|publisher=NASA|date=28 October 1998|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202023518/http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ogc/commercial/CommercialSpaceActof1998.html|archive-date=2 February 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Nonetheless, until 2004 NASA kept private space flight effectively illegal.<ref>[http://www.asi.org/adb/j/02/legal-roadblocks.html It's illegal for private enterprise to go into space.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990218062255/http://www.asi.org/adb/j/02/legal-roadblocks.html|date=1999-02-18}}<br/> U.S. law regulates private space launches, and the current law is quite unreasonable. A private company wanting to build and launch a rocket faces a mountain of red tape and very long lead times for getting approval from the government. However, although these problems add a tremendous amount of cost to private space launches, there are no laws that prohibit private space launches.</ref> But that year, the [[Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004]] required that NASA and the [[Federal Aviation Administration]] legalise private space flight.<ref name=nbc2004>[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/6682611/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/private-spaceflight-bill-signed-law/ Private Spaceflight Bill Signed into Law] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231001919/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6682611/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/private-spaceflight-bill-signed-law/|date=31 December 2014}}<br/>The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act, or H.R. 5382, placed a clear legislative stamp on regulations that were being formulated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Among other provisions, the law was intended to let paying passengers fly on suborbital launch vehicles at their own risk.</ref>
The 2004 Act also specified a "learning period" which restricted the ability of the FAA to enact regulations regarding the safety of people who might actually fly on commercial spacecraft through 2012, ostensibly because spaceflight participants would share the risk of flight through [[informed consent]] procedures of human spaceflight risks, while requiring the launch provider to be legally liable for potential losses to uninvolved persons and structures.<ref name=tsr20150526/>

To the end of 2014, commercial passenger flights in space has remained effectively illegal, as the FAA has refused to give a commercial operator's license to any private space company.<ref>[http://www.jaunted.com/story/2014/1/29/17284/7200/travel/Wow.+FAA+Paperwork+Delays+May+Block+Virgin+Galactic+Debut. Wow. FAA Paperwork Delays May Block Virgin Galactic Debut.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231035525/http://www.jaunted.com/story/2014/1/29/17284/7200/travel/Wow.+FAA+Paperwork+Delays+May+Block+Virgin+Galactic+Debut.|date=31 December 2014}}</ref>

The [[United States Government|United States]] updated US commercial space legislation with the passage of the [[SPACE Act of 2015|''Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship Act of 2015'' (SPACE Act of 2015)]] in November 2015.<ref name="hr2262">{{cite web |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2262|title=H.R.2262 – 114th Congress (2015–2016): U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act|date=25 November 2015|work=congress.gov |access-date=30 November 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119195538/https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2262|archive-date=19 November 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The update US law explicitly allows "US citizens to engage in the commercial exploration and exploitation of 'space resources' [including... water and minerals]". The right does not extend to [[biological life]], so anything that is alive may not be exploited commercially.<ref name="wired20151112">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-11/12/how-to-mine-asteroids-for-fun-and-profit|title=Space Act of 2015: American companies could soon mine asteroids for profit (Wired UK)|magazine=Wired UK|access-date=30 November 2015|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151204145256/http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-11/12/how-to-mine-asteroids-for-fun-and-profit|archive-date=4 December 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Act further asserts that "the United States does not [(by this Act)] assert [[sovereignty]], or sovereign or [[exclusive right]]s or jurisdiction over, or the ownership of, any [[celestial body]]".<ref name=wired20151112/>

The SPACE Act includes the extension of [[indemnification]] of US launch providers for extraordinary catastrophic <!-- above {{USD|3 billion}}, the launch providers are responsible for all losses to themselves plus the first $3 billion of losses to third parties, and these are ordinarily insured by commercial launch insurance, paid for by the company. --> third-party losses of a failed launch through 2025, while the previous indemnification law was scheduled to expire in 2016. The Act also extends, through 2025, the "learning period" restrictions which limit the ability of the FAA to enact regulations regarding the safety of spaceflight ''participants''.<ref name="tsr20150526">{{cite news|last1=Foust|first1=Jeff|title=Congress launches commercial space legislation|url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2759/1|access-date=2 June 2015|work=The Space Review|publisher=Space News|date=26 May 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527063504/http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2759/1|archive-date=27 May 2015 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Indemnification for extraordinary third-party losses has, as of 2015, been a component of US space law for over 25 years, and during this time, "has never been invoked in any commercial launch mishap".<ref name=tsr20150526/>

=== Russian privatization ===
{{Main|Space industry of Russia}}
In 1992, a Resurs-500 capsule containing gifts was launched from [[Plesetsk Cosmodrome]] in a private spaceflight called [[Space Flight Europe-America 500|Europe-America 500]]. The flight was conceived by the Russian [[Foundation for Social Inventions]] and [[Progress State Research and Production Rocket Space Center|TsSKB-Progress]], a Russian rocket-building company, to increase trade between Russia and the United States, and to promote the use of technology once reserved only for military forces. Money for the launch was raised from a collection of Russian companies. The capsule parachuted into the Pacific Ocean and was brought to Seattle by a Russian missile-tracking ship.

=== Launch alliances ===
[[File:Proton Zvezda crop.jpg|thumb|Launch of a Proton rocket]]

Since 1995 Khrunichev's [[Proton rocket]] has been marketed through [[International Launch Services]], while the [[Soyuz (rocket family)|Soyuz rocket]] is marketed via [[Starsem]]. The [[Sea Launch]] project flew the Ukrainian [[Zenit rocket]].

In 2003, Arianespace joined with [[Boeing]] Launch Services and [[Mitsubishi Heavy Industries]] to create the [[Launch Services Alliance]]. In 2005, continued weak commercial demand for EELV launches drove Lockheed Martin and Boeing to propose a joint venture called the [[United Launch Alliance]] to service the United States government launch market.<ref>{{cite web|title=Boeing, Lockheed Martin to Form Launch Services Joint Venture| date=2 May 2005 |url=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=16790|publisher=spaceref.com|access-date=13 February 2008|url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121209234346/http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=16790|archive-date=9 December 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

=== Spaceflight privatization ===
Since the 1980s, various private initiatives have [[Startup company|started up]] to pursue the private use of [[outer space|space]]. Traditional costs to launch anything to space have been high—on the order of tens of thousands of US dollars per kilogram—but by 2020, costs on the order of a few thousand dollars per kilogram are being seen from one private launch provider that was an early 2000s startup, with the cost projected to fall to less than a few hundred dollars per kilogram<!-- as "large, even gigantic, reusable rockets such as Starship or New Glenn" come online. --> as the technology of a second private spaceflight startup of ~2000 comes into service.<ref name=tc20200818>[https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/18/private-space-industrialization-is-here/ Private space industrialization is here], [[Mikhail Kokorich]], [[TechCrunch]], 18 August 2020, accessed 25 August 2020.</ref>

The first privately funded rocket to reach the boundary of space, the [[Kármán line]], (although not orbit) was [[Conestoga (rocket)|Conestoga I]], which was launched by [[Space Services Inc.]] on a suborbital flight to {{convert|309|km}} altitude on 9 September 1982.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spaceservicesinc.com/#!company-heritage/c1z05|title=Heritage: Pioneering the Commercial Space Frontier|publisher=Space Services Inc.|access-date=18 August 2015|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150803174817/http://www.spaceservicesinc.com/#!company-heritage/c1z05|archive-date=3 August 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.astronautix.com/sites/matsland.htm|title=Matagorda Island|last=Wade|first=Mark|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Astronautica|access-date=18 August 2015|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210032018/http://www.astronautix.com/sites/matsland.htm|archive-date=10 February 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  In October 1995, their first (and only) attempt at an orbital launch, Conestoga 1620, failed to achieve orbit due to a guidance system failure.<ref>Tim Furniss, "[https://www.flightglobal.com/first-conestoga-booster-explodes-after-launch/13792.article First Conestoga booster explodes after launch]", 31 October 1995, ''Flightglobal.com''.  Accessed 1 June 2020</ref>

[[File:Pegasus Air Launch.jpg|thumb|right|First launch of the Pegasus rocket, from a NASA-owned [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]]]]
On April 5, 1990, [[Orbital Sciences Corporation]]'s [[Pegasus (rocket)|Pegasus]], an [[air launch]]ed rocket, was the first launch vehicle fully developed by a private company to reach orbit.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.orbitalatk.com/flight-systems/space-launch-vehicles/pegasus/|title=Pegasus|publisher=Orbital ATK|access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref>

In the early 2000s, several public-private corporate partnerships were established in the United States to privately develop spaceflight technology. Several purely private initiatives have shown interest in private endeavors to the [[inner Solar System]].<ref name="iac">{{cite web|last1=Pittman|first1=Bruce|last2=Rasky|first2=Dan|last3=Harper|first3=Lynn|title=Infrastructure Based Exploration – An Affordable Path To Sustainable Space Development |url=https://cammpus.s3.amazonaws.com/resource/file/5351/IAC_Paper_Commercial_Space.pdf|publisher=IAC|access-date=14 October 2014|location=IAC - 12, D3, 2, 4, x14203|year=2012|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026081409/https://cammpus.s3.amazonaws.com/resource/file/5351/IAC_Paper_Commercial_Space.pdf|archive-date=26 October 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In 2006, NASA initiated a program to purchase commercial [[space transport]] to carry cargo to the [[International Space Station]], while funding a portion of the development of new technology in a [[public-private partnership]].<ref name="belfiore2007"/>{{rp|10}}

In May 2015, the Japanese legislature considered legislation to allow private company spaceflight initiatives in Japan.<ref name="jn20150603">{{cite news|title=Private-sector rocket launch legislation eyed |url=http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002195521|access-date=5 June 2015|work=Japan News|publisher=Yomiuri Shimbun|date=3 June 2015|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607023425/http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002195521|archive-date=7 June 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In 2016, the United States granted its first clearance for a private flight to the Moon, from the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.<ref name="2016:August:Fingas">{{cite web|url=https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/03/us-clears-private-moon-flight/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIZctMMN9UqViHFf_p7Gh6wISe6jEMvRU11oYLHttJMHdVNLM_VQLdSbyT-KMyOyLiGIiuRTJ7aEPUVPFZ3PleRKEDSbP_iRvepmzCR_e4in9xJ0NPnv2We0Y7aPcnf9zeGmm9Fl_g4bXHJy5JM-OE6Y4j-WviLc7Z6zrbhevRA3|title=US grants its first clearance for a private flight to the Moon|last=Fingas|first=Jon |date=August 3, 2016|website=www.endgadget.com}}</ref>

On 30 May 2020, [[Crew Dragon Demo-2]] operated by [[SpaceX]] became the first crewed mission to the [[International Space Station]] in the [[Commercial Crew Program]].

After 2015, European-based private small-lift launch vehicle development got underway, particularly in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, but "France has largely been left out of this new commercial launch industry".<ref name=ars20211207/>  In 2021, the [[Government of France]] announced a plan to fund the "France-based rocket firm [[ArianeGroup]] to develop a new small-lift rocket called [[Maïa (rocket)|Maïa]] by the year 2026,"<ref name="ars20211207">{{cite news|last=Berger|first=Erik|date=7 December 2021|title=Concerned about SpaceX, France to accelerate reusable rocket plans|work=[[Ars Technica]]|url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/12/france-seeks-to-build-reusable-rocket-make-up-for-bad-choices-in-the-past/|access-date=19 December 2021}}</ref> which would be a government-funded but commercially developed rocket.

On 22 February 2024, Intuitive Machine's private [[Intuitive Machines Nova-C#IM-1 mission|''Odysseus'']] successfully landed on the Moon after taking off on a SpaceX [[Falcon 9]] liftoff on 15 February 2024 in a mission between [[NASA]], [[SpaceX]], and [[Intuitive Machines]]. This event marked the first successful landing of a privately owned spacecraft on the Moon and the United States' first lunar landing in over 50 years and the first lander to do so with [[cryogenic]] [[propellant]]s.<ref>[https://www.space.com/spacex-intuitive-machines-nova-c-moon-lander-launch-preparations SpaceX gearing up to launch Intuitive Machines private moon lander in February] Space.com. By Mike Wall.  Jan. 31, 2024. Retrieved Feb. 5, 2024.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=David |first1=Emillia |title=Odysseus achieves the first US Moon landing since 1972 |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/22/24080498/odysseus-lunar-lander-nasa-moon-intuitive-machines |website=The Verge |date=22 February 2024 |access-date=23 February 2024}}</ref>

== Companies ==
{{Main|List of private spaceflight companies}}

{{Update|section|date=May 2024}}

Today many commercial space transportation companies offer launch services to satellite companies and government space organizations around the world. In 2005, there were 18 total commercial launches and 37 non-commercial launches. Russia flew 44% of commercial orbital launches, while Europe had 28% and the United States had 6%.<ref>{{cite web|title=Commercial Space Transportation: 2005 Year In Review |url=http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/media/2005_YIR_FAA_AST_0206.pdf|publisher=faa.gov|access-date=13 February 2008|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227051110/http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/media/2005_YIR_FAA_AST_0206.pdf|archive-date=27 February 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> China's first private launch, a suborbital flight by [[OneSpace]], took place in May 2018.<ref name=cnn20180517>{{cite news|url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/16/technology/onespace-china-spacex-startup/index.html |title=OneSpace launches China's first private rocket|publisher=[[CNN]]|first1=Michelle|last1=Toh|first2=Serenitie|last2=Wang|date=17 May 2018|access-date=22 May 2018}}</ref>

=== Funding ===
In recent years, the [[finance|funding]] to support private spaceflight has begun to be raised from a larger pool of sources than the comparatively limited pool of the 1990s. For example, {{as of|2013|06|lc=y}} and in the United States alone, ten [[billionaire]]s had made "serious investments in private spaceflight activities"<ref name=hc20130628/> at six companies, including [[Stratolaunch Systems]], [[Planetary Resources]], [[Blue Origin]], [[Virgin Galactic]], [[SpaceX]], and [[Bigelow Aerospace]]. The ten investors were [[Paul Allen]], [[Larry Page]], [[Eric Schmidt]], [[Ram Shriram]], [[Charles Simonyi]], [[Ross Perot Jr.]], [[Jeff Bezos]], [[Richard Branson]], [[Elon Musk]], and [[Robert Bigelow]].<ref name=hc20130628/>

At the start of the private space era it was not yet clear to what extent these entrepreneurs see "legitimate business opportunity, [for example], space tourism and other commercial activities in space, or [are] wealthy men seeking the exclusivity that space offers innovators and investors."<ref name=hc20130628/> There has been speculation as to whether these investments are a "gamble", and whether they will prove lucrative.<ref name="hc20130628">{{cite news|last=Berger|first=Eric|title=Ten billionaires are betting on private spaceflight: Smart or squandered money?|url=http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2013/06/ten-billionaires-are-betting-on-private-spaceflight-smart-or-squandered-money/|access-date=30 June 2013|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|date=28 June 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130701180426/http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2013/06/ten-billionaires-are-betting-on-private-spaceflight-smart-or-squandered-money/|archive-date=1 July 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

As of the early 2020s some of these investments have paid off, with Musk's SpaceX coming to dominate the launch market in mass to orbit and with a $100 billion valuation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-global-orbital-launch-leader/ |title=SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is dominating global orbital launches in 2021 |last=Ralph |first=Eric |date=July 4, 2021 |website=teslarati.com |publisher= |access-date=May 9, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.space.com/elon-musk-spacex-valued-100-billion |title=Elon Musk's SpaceX now valued at $100 billion: report |last=Howell |first=Elizabeth |date=October 26, 2021 |website=space.com |publisher= |access-date=May 9, 2022 }}</ref> Other companies such as [[Bigelow Aerospace]] though have collapsed and left the market.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://spacenews.com/bigelow-aerospace-lays-off-entire-workforce/ |title=Bigelow Aerospace lays off entire workforce |last=Foust |first=Jeff |date=March 23, 2020 |website=spacenews.com |publisher= |access-date=May 9, 2022}}</ref> Some aerospace startups, such as [[Rocket Lab]], have gone public via [[special-purpose acquisition company]], but their SPAC values have been affected by market volatility.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.law360.com/articles/1488691/space-focused-spac-withdraws-plans-for-300m-ipo |title=Space-Focused SPAC Withdraws Plans For $300M IPO |last=Pagan |first=McCord |date=April 29, 2022 |website=law360.com |publisher= |access-date=May 9, 2022 }}</ref>

==== Venture capital investment ====
Some investors see the traditional spaceflight industry as ripe for [[Disruptive innovation|disruption]], with "a 100-fold improvement {{interp|relatively straightforward and|orig=is actually a piece of cake, and making}} a thousand-fold improvement {{interp|possible|is feasible}}".<ref name="wapo20160128"/> Between 2005 and 2015, there was {{USD|10 billion}} of [[private capital]] invested in the space sector,<ref name="ibt20151009">{{cite news|last=Nordrum|first=Amy|work=International Business Times|date=9 October 2015|title=Space Advocate Makes Business Case For Private Company Exploration Of Extraterrestrial Resources |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/space-advocate-makes-business-case-private-company-exploration-extraterrestrial-2134171|access-date=10 October 2015|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011230749/http://www.ibtimes.com/space-advocate-makes-business-case-private-company-exploration-extraterrestrial-2134171|archive-date=11 October 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> most of it in the United States. This [[Commercial Space Launch Act|liberalized private space sector investment]]s beginning in the 1980s,<ref name=csla1984/> with additional legislative reforms in the 1990s–2000s.<ref name=bromberg1999/><ref name=usg19981028/><ref name=nbc2004/> From 2000 through the end of 2015, a total of {{USD|13.3 billion}} of investment finance was invested in the space sector, with {{USD|2.9 billion}} of that being [[venture capital]].<ref name=fortune20160222/> In 2015, venture capital firms invested {{USD|1.8 billion}} in private spaceflight companies, more than they had in the previous 15 years combined.<ref name="fortune20160222">{{cite news|url=http://fortune.com/2016/02/22/vcs-invested-more-in-space-startups-last-year/|title=VCs Invested More in Space Startups Last Year Than in the Previous 15 Years Combined|work=Fortune|date=22 February 2016|access-date=4 March 2016|quote=''The Tauri Group suggests that space startups turned a major corner in 2015, at least in the eyes of venture capital firms that are now piling money into young space companies with unprecedented gusto... he study also found that more than 50 venture capital firms invested in space companies in 2015, signaling that venture capital has warmed to a space industry it has long considered both too risky and too slow to yield returns''.|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308060353/http://fortune.com/2016/02/22/vcs-invested-more-in-space-startups-last-year/|archive-date=8 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> {{as of|2015|10}}, the largest and most active investors in space were [[Lux Capital]], [[Bessemer Venture Partners]], [[Khosla Ventures]], [[Founders Fund]], [[RRE Ventures]] and [[Draper Fisher Jurvetson]].<ref name=ibt20151009/>

Increasing interest by investors in economically driven spaceflight had begun to appear by 2016, and some space ventures had to turn away investor funding.<ref name="wapo20160128">{{cite news|last=Davenport |first=Christian|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/why-investors-are-following-musk-bezos-in-betting-on-the-stars/2016/01/28/42bd5066-b962-11e5-b682-4bb4dd403c7d_story.html|title=Why investors are following Musk, Bezos in betting on the stars|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=28 January 2016|access-date=20 October 2016|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729124423/https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/why-investors-are-following-musk-bezos-in-betting-on-the-stars/2016/01/28/42bd5066-b962-11e5-b682-4bb4dd403c7d_story.html|archive-date=29 July 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> CBInsights in August 2016 published that funding to space startups was "in a slump", although the number of space investment deals per quarter had gone from 2 or 3 in 2012 to 14 by 2015.<ref name="2016:August:CBInsights">{{cite web|url=https://www.cbinsights.com/research/space-startups-funding-trends/|title=Funding And Deals To Space Startups In A Slump|date=August 23, 2016|website=www.cbinsights.com}}</ref> In 2017, CB Insights ranked the most active space tech investors, ranked from highest to lowest, were Space Angels Networks, Founders Fund, RRE Ventures, Data Collective, Bessemer, Lux Capital, [[Alphabet (company)|Alphabet]], [[Tencent Holdings]], and [[Rothenberg Ventures]].<ref name="2017:May">{{cite web|url=https://www.cbinsights.com/research/top-space-tech-startup-investors/|title=Betting On The Moon: The Most Active Space Tech Investors|date=May 2, 2017|website=www.cbinsights.com}}</ref> In June 2019, Miriam Kramer of [[Axios (website)|Axios]] wrote that private spaceflight companies and investors were poised to capitalize on NASA's plan to open up the International Space Station to commercial space ventures.<ref name="2019:June:Kramer">{{cite web |url=https://www.axios.com/international-space-station-privatization-space-companies-29721f1c-f2a0-49a9-97a0-c060ab647bdc.html|title=Private spaceflight companies plan to capitalize on the ISS|last=Kramer |first=Miriam|date=June 18, 2019|website=www.axios.com}}</ref>

=== Commercial launchers ===
{{Main|Space transport}}

The space transport business has, historically, had its primary customers in national governments and large commercial segments. Launches of government [[Payload (air and space craft)|payloads]], including military, civilian and scientific satellites, was the largest market segment in 2007 at nearly $100 billion a year. This segment was dominated by domestic favorites such as the [[United Launch Alliance]] for U.S. government payloads and [[Arianespace]] for European satellites until the 2020s when NewSpace launch providers like SpaceX and Blue Origin were able to compete for these contracts.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Andrew Jones |date=2024-06-21 |title=Pentagon picks SpaceX, Blue Origin and ULA for $5.6 billion launch deal |url=https://www.space.com/spacex-blue-origin-space-force-launch-contracts-2025-2029 |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=Space.com |language=en}}</ref>

==== US government commercial cargo services ====
[[File:COTS2 Dragon is berthed.jpg|thumb|The [[SpaceX Dragon]] berthing with the ISS during its [[Dragon C2+|final demonstration mission]], on 25 May 2012]]
{{Main|Commercial Orbital Transportation Services}}

The [[Federal government of the United States|US government]] determined to begin a process to purchase [[Space launch|orbital launch]] services for cargo deliveries to the [[International Space Station]] (ISS) beginning in the mid-2000s, rather than operate the launch and delivery services as they had with the [[Space Shuttle]], which was to retire in less than half a decade, and ultimately did retire in 2011.  On 18 January 2006, NASA announced an opportunity for US commercial providers to demonstrate orbital transportation services.<ref>{{cite web |title=NASA Seeks Proposals for Crew and Cargo Transportation to Orbit |url=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18791 |publisher=spaceref.com |access-date=11 February 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20061224233704/http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid%3D18791 |archive-date=24 December 2006 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> As of 2008, NASA planned to spend $500 million through 2010 to finance development of [[private sector]] capability to transport payloads to the [[International Space Station]] (ISS).{{update after|2013|1|21}} This was considered more challenging than then-available commercial space transportation because it would require precision [[orbit insertion]], [[in-orbit rendezvous|rendezvous]] and possibly docking with another spacecraft. The commercial vendors competed in specific service areas.<ref>{{cite web |title=GUIDANCE FOR THE PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS |url=http://ec.msfc.nasa.gov/hq/library/unSol-Prop.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991009132937/http://ec.msfc.nasa.gov/hq/library/unSol-Prop.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 October 1999 |publisher=nasa.gov |access-date=13 February 2008 }}</ref>

In August 2006, NASA announced that two relatively young aerospace companies, [[SpaceX]] and [[Rocketplane Kistler]], had been awarded $278 million and $207 million, respectively, under the COTS program.<ref>{{cite web |title=NASA Invests in Private Sector Space Flight with SpaceX, Rocketplane-Kistler |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/news/COTS_selection.html |publisher=nasa.gov |access-date=14 February 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080223112559/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/news/COTS_selection.html |archive-date=23 February 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 2008, NASA anticipated that commercial [[space logistics|cargo delivery services to and return services from]] the ISS would be necessary through at least 2015. The NASA Administrator suggested that space transportation services procurement may be expanded to orbital [[propellant depot|fuel depots]] and [[Moon#Physical characteristics|lunar surface]] deliveries should the first phase of COTS prove successful.<ref>{{cite web |title=Human_Space_Flight_Transition_Plan |url=http://spaceoperations.nasa.gov/tran_plan.pdf |publisher=nasa.gov |access-date=14 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227051121/http://spaceoperations.nasa.gov/tran_plan.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=27 February 2008}}</ref>

After it transpired that Rocketplane Kistler was failing to meet its contractual deadlines, NASA terminated its contract with the company in August 2008, after only $32 million had been spent. Several months later, in December 2008, NASA awarded the remaining $170 million in that contract to [[Orbital Sciences Corporation]] to develop resupply services to the ISS.<ref>{{cite web |title=NASA Awards Space Station Commercial Resupply Services Contracts |url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/dec/HQ_C08-069_ISS_Resupply.html |publisher=nasa.gov |access-date=24 December 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160715085914/http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/dec/HQ_C08-069_ISS_Resupply.html |archive-date=15 July 2016 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

=== Emerging personal spaceflight ===
{{Main|Space tourism}}
{{see also|Billionaire space race}}

Before 2004, the year it was legalized in the US, no privately operated crewed spaceflight had ever occurred. The only private individuals to journey to space went as [[space tourism|space tourists]] in the [[Space Shuttle]] or on Russian [[Soyuz programme|Soyuz]] flights to [[Mir]] or the [[International Space Station]].

All private individuals who flew to space before [[Dennis Tito]]'s self-financed International Space Station visit in 2001 had been sponsored by their home governments or by private corporations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sen.com/features/soyuz-tm-11-first-journalist-in-space |title=Soyuz TM-11: First journalist in space |publisher=SEN.com |author=Anatoly Zak |date=27 June 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005021101/http://sen.com/features/soyuz-tm-11-first-journalist-in-space |archive-date=5 October 2015 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Those trips include US Congressman [[Bill Nelson (politician)|Bill Nelson's]] January 1986 flight on the [[Space Shuttle Columbia|Space Shuttle ''Columbia'']] and Japanese television reporter [[Toyohiro Akiyama]]'s 1990 flight to the [[Mir]] Space Station.

The [[Ansari X PRIZE]] was intended to stimulate private investment in the development of spaceflight technologies. 21 June 2004, test flight of [[SpaceShipOne]], a contender for the X PRIZE, was the first [[human spaceflight]] in a privately developed and operated vehicle.

On 27 September 2004, following the success of SpaceShipOne, [[Richard Branson]], owner of [[Virgin Group|Virgin]] and [[Burt Rutan]], SpaceShipOne's designer, announced that [[Virgin Galactic]] had licensed the craft's technology, and were planning commercial space flights in 2.5 to 3 years. A fleet of five craft ([[SpaceShipTwo]], launched from the [[WhiteKnightTwo]] carrier airplane) were to be constructed, and flights would be offered at around $200,000 each, although Branson said he planned to use this money to make flights more affordable in the long term. A test flight of SpaceShipTwo in October 2014 resulted in a crash during one of the two pilots died.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chang |first1=Kenneth |last2=Schwartz |first2=John |title=Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Crashes in New Setback for Commercial Spaceflight |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/01/science/virgin-galactics-spaceshiptwo-crashes-during-test-flight.html |date=31 October 2014 |work=New York Times |access-date=20 January 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216054401/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/01/science/virgin-galactics-spaceshiptwo-crashes-during-test-flight.html |archive-date=16 December 2014 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In December 2004, United States President [[George W. Bush]] signed into law the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act.<ref>{{cite web |title=House Approves H.R. 3752, The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 |url=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13774 |publisher=spaceref.com |access-date=14 February 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104210710/http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13774 |archive-date=4 January 2013 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Act resolved the regulatory ambiguity surrounding private spaceflights and is designed to promote the development of the emerging U.S. commercial human space flight industry.

On 12 July 2006, [[Bigelow Aerospace]] launched the ''[[Genesis I]]'', a subscale pathfinder of an orbital space station module. ''[[Genesis II (space habitat)|Genesis II]]'' was launched on 28 June 2007, and there are plans for additional prototypes to be launched in preparation for the production model ''[[BA 330]]'' spacecraft.{{Update after|2010|11|13}}

In November 2009, [[Zero2infinity|Zero 2 Infinity]], a Spanish aerospace company announced plans for a balloon-based nears space tourism vehicle called Bloon.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Palou |first=Nacho |title=Bloon: ascensión en globo hasta casi las estrellas |url=https://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/mundoreal/bloon-ascension-globo-hasta-casi-estrellas.html |access-date=2022-08-15 |website=Microsiervos |language=es-ES}}</ref> Then in 2015 it started developing a [[high-altitude balloon]]-based [[launch vehicle]] named [[bloostar]] to launch small satellites to orbit for customers, as well as platform for near-space tourism.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.universetoday.com/115391/balloon-launcher-zero2infinity-sets-its-sights-to-the-stars/|title=Balloon launcher Zero2Infinity Sets Its Sights to the Stars|last=Reyes|first=Tim|date=17 October 2014|work=Universe Today|access-date=15 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710031224/http://www.universetoday.com/115391/balloon-launcher-zero2infinity-sets-its-sights-to-the-stars/|archive-date=10 July 2015|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> [[World View Enterprises|World View]], a stratospheric balloon exploration company based in Tucson, Ariz., is similarly leveraging its [[stratospheric balloon]] technology to launch its [[remote sensing]] services<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-06-06 |title=World View reaches new milestone in Stratollite development |url=https://spacenews.com/world-view-reaches-new-milestone-in-stratollite-development/ |access-date=2022-07-11 |website=SpaceNews |language=en-US}}</ref> for government and commercial customers, as well as developing its own space tourism offering that would lift passengers up to 100,000 feet for a 6-8 journey.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Mike Wall |date=2021-10-04 |title=World View to start flying passengers on stratospheric balloon rides in 2024 |url=https://www.space.com/world-view-space-tourism-stratosphere-balloon |access-date=2022-07-11 |website=Space.com |language=en}}</ref> Similar projects of stratospheric balloon tourism are being developed by multiple other companies around the world (Zephalto,<ref>{{Cite web|title=La croisière aux portes de l'espace|url=https://zephalto.com/|access-date=2021-02-12|website=Zephalto|language=fr-FR}}</ref> Space Perspective,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Home - Space Perspective human spaceflight, space tourism, spaceship|url=https://thespaceperspective.com/|access-date=2021-02-12|website=Space Perspective|language=en-US}}</ref>...), though none has yet made a high altitude crewed flight (as of Aug. 2022).

On July 11, 2021, [[Richard Branson]] and [[Virgin Galactic]] [[Virgin Galactic Unity 22|made their first successful flight to space]].<ref>{{Cite web|author=Jackie Wattles|title=Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson successfully rockets to outer space|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/11/tech/richard-branson-virgin-galactic-space-flight-scn/index.html|access-date=2021-07-20|website=CNN|date=11 July 2021 }}</ref>

On July 20, 2021, [[Jeff Bezos]] and [[Blue Origin]] [[Blue Origin NS-16|also made a successful flight to space]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Chang|first=Kenneth|date=2021-07-20|title=Latest Updates: Bezos and Blue Origin Crew Land After Short Flight to Space|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/20/science/jeff-bezos-space-flight|access-date=2021-07-20|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

On September 16, 2021, [[Crew Dragon]] [[Crew Dragon Resilience|''Resilience'']] [[Inspiration4]] mission operated by [[SpaceX]] became the first [[orbital spaceflight]] with only private citizens aboard. In September 2024, the SpaceX mission [[Polaris Dawn]] included the first private spacewalk.

On April 1, [[Fram2]] is an ongoing private human spaceflight mission that is being operated by [[SpaceX]] with a [[Crew Dragon]] spacecraft on behalf of entrepreneur [[Chun Wang]]. During the mission, Wang and his all-civilian crew — [[Jannicke Mikkelsen]], [[Rabea Rogge]] and [[Eric Philips (explorer)|Eric Philips]] — were launched into a [[polar orbit]], a first for a human spaceflight mission.

=== Private foundations ===
The [[B612 Foundation]] was<ref name=cancel1>{{Cite web|url=https://spacenews.com/b612-studying-smallsat-missions-to-search-for-near-earth-objects/|title=B612 studying smallsat missions to search for near Earth objects|date=20 June 2017|website=SpaceNews}}</ref> designing and building an [[asteroid]]-finding space telescope named [[Sentinel Space Telescope|Sentinel]].<ref name="B612-20120913">{{cite web |title=The Foundation |publisher=[[B612 Foundation]] |url=http://b612foundation.org/b612/b612-foundation/ |access-date=13 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406092842/http://b612foundation.org/b612/b612-foundation/ |archive-date=6 April 2012 }}</ref> It would have launched in 2016.<ref name="B612-20120919">{{cite web |title=The Sentinel Mission |publisher=B612 Foundation |url=http://b612foundation.org/media/sentinelmission/ |access-date=19 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910234035/http://b612foundation.org/media/sentinelmission/ |archive-date=10 September 2012 }}</ref>

[[The Planetary Society]], a nonprofit space research and advocacy organization, has sponsored a series of small satellites to test the feasibility of [[solar sail]]ing. Their first such project, [[Cosmos 1]], was launched in 2005 but failed to reach space, and was succeeded by the [[Lightsail-1|Lightsail]] series, the first of which launched on 20 May 2015. A second spacecraft is expected to launch in 2016 on a more complex mission.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/2015/20150112-lightsail-test-flight.html |title=It's Official: LightSail Test Flight Scheduled for May 2015 |last=Davis |first=Jason |publisher=Planetary Society |date=26 January 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201021831/http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/2015/20150112-lightsail-test-flight.html |archive-date=1 February 2015 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

[[Copenhagen Suborbitals]] is a crowd funded amateur crewed space programme. {{As of|2016}} it has flown four home-built rockets and two mock-up space capsules.

== Plans ==

Many have speculated on where private spaceflight may go in the near future. Numerous projects of orbital and suborbital launch systems for satellites and crewed flights exist. Some orbital crewed missions would be state-sponsored like most COTS participants. (that develop their own launch systems). Another possibility is for paid suborbital tourism on craft like those from [[Virgin Galactic]], [[Space Adventures]], [[XCOR Aerospace]], [[RocketShip Tours]], [[ARCASPACE]], [[PlanetSpace]]-[[Canadian Arrow]], British [[Starchaser Industries]] or non-commercial like [[Copenhagen Suborbitals]]. Additionally, suborbital spacecraft have applications for faster intercontinental package delivery and passenger flight.

=== Private orbital spaceflight, space stations ===
[[SpaceX]]'s [[Falcon 9]] rocket, first launched in 2010 with no passengers,<ref name="sfn20100604">{{cite web |url=http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/100604launch/index.html |title=Falcon 9 booster rockets into orbit on dramatic first launch |website=spaceflightnow.com |date=4 June 2010 |access-date=4 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607023438/http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/100604launch/index.html |archive-date=7 June 2010 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> was designed to be subsequently [[Human-rating certification|human-rated]]. The [[Atlas V]] launch vehicle is also a contender for human-rating.

Plans and a full-scale prototype for the [[SpaceX Dragon]], a capsule capable of carrying up to seven passengers, were announced in March 2006,<ref>{{cite news |first=Keith |last=Cowing |title=The SpaceX Dragon: America's First Privately Financed Manned Orbital Spacecraft? |url=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1095 |publisher=SpaceRef.com |access-date=12 February 2008 |date=6 March 2006}}</ref> and [[Dragon V2|Dragon version 2]] flight hardware was unveiled in May 2014.<ref name="aw20140530">{{cite news |last=Norris |first=Guy |title=SpaceX Unveils 'Step Change' Dragon 'V2' |url=http://aviationweek.com/space/spacex-unveils-step-change-dragon-v2 |access-date=18 September 2014 |newspaper=Aviation Week |date=30 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531110355/http://aviationweek.com/space/spacex-unveils-step-change-dragon-v2 |archive-date=31 May 2014 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> {{as of|2024|06}}, both SpaceX and [[CST-100|Boeing]] have received contracts from NASA to complete building, testing, and flying up to six flights of human-rated space capsules to the [[International Space Station]] beginning in 2017 as part of the [[Commercial Crew Program]].<ref>{{cite web |title=NASA Chooses American Companies to Transport U.S. Astronauts to International Space Station |url=http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/september/nasa-chooses-american-companies-to-transport-us-astronauts-to-international/ |access-date=16 September 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140918000227/http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/september/nasa-chooses-american-companies-to-transport-us-astronauts-to-international/ |archive-date=18 September 2014 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In December 2010, SpaceX launched the second Falcon 9 and the first operational Dragon spacecraft. The mission was deemed fully successful, marking the first launch to space, atmospheric reentry and recovery of a capsule by a private company. Subsequent [[Commercial Orbital Transportation Services|COTS]] missions included increasingly complex orbital tasks, culminating in Dragon first docking to the ISS in 2012.

The British Government partnered in 2015 with the [[ESA]] to promote a possibly commercial [[single-stage to orbit]] [[spaceplane]] concept called [[Skylon (spacecraft)|Skylon]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parabolicarc.com/2010/09/22/uksa-reviews-skylon-sabre/ |title=UKSA Reviews Skylon and SABRE at Parabolic Arc |work=parabolicarc.com |date=22 September 2010 |access-date=12 June 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614172527/http://www.parabolicarc.com/2010/09/22/uksa-reviews-skylon-sabre/ |archive-date=14 June 2015 |df=dmy-all |last1=Messier |first1=Doug }}</ref> This design was pioneered by the privately held [[Reaction Engines Limited]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/faq.html#q6 |title=Reaction Engines Ltd - Frequently Asked Questions |work=reactionengines.co.uk |access-date=12 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602004107/http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/faq.html |archive-date=2 June 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ukspaceagency.bis.gov.uk/19661.aspx |title=UK Space Agency - Skylon System Requirements Review |access-date=1 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100926162015/http://www.ukspaceagency.bis.gov.uk/19661.aspx |archive-date=26 September 2010 |df=dmy}}</ref> a company founded by [[Alan Bond (engineer)|Alan Bond]] after [[HOTOL]] was canceled.<ref name="ReactionEngines1">{{cite web |url=http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/ |title=Reaction Engines Limited |work=reactionengines.co.uk |access-date=12 June 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617112938/http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/ |archive-date=17 June 2015 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

As of 2012, private company [[NanoRacks]] provides commercial access to the US National Laboratory space on the [[International Space Station]] (ISS). Science experiments can be conducted on a variety of standard rack-sized experimental platforms, with [[International standard|standard]] interfaces for power and data acquisition.<ref name="forbes20130304">{{cite news |last=Knapp |first=Alex |title=The Space Station Is The Final Frontier Of Bio Research |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2013/02/13/the-space-station-is-the-final-frontier-of-biological-research/ |access-date=18 February 2013<!-- available online in mid-Feb, publish date is for the print edition "printed" date --> |newspaper=Forbes |date=4 March 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217111658/http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2013/02/13/the-space-station-is-the-final-frontier-of-biological-research/ |archive-date=17 February 2013 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

=== On-orbit propellant depots ===
{{Main|Propellant depot}}

In a presentation given 15 November 2005 to the 52nd Annual Conference of the [[American Astronautical Society]], NASA Administrator [[Michael D. Griffin]] suggested that establishing an on-orbit propellant depot is, "Exactly the type of enterprise which should be left to industry and to the marketplace."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/138033main_griffin_aas1.pdf |title=NASA and the Business of Space |publisher=NASA |access-date=12 February 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227051110/http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/138033main_griffin_aas1.pdf |archive-date=27 February 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> At the Space Technology and Applications International Forum in 2007, Dallas Bienhoff of [[Boeing]] made a presentation detailing the benefits of propellant depots.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/constellation/references/presentations/Potential_Impact_of_LEO_Propellant_on_NASA_ESAS_Architecture.pdf |title=The Potential Impact of a LEO Propellant Depot on the NASA ESAS Architecture |publisher=Boeing |access-date=12 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227051110/http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/constellation/references/presentations/Potential_Impact_of_LEO_Propellant_on_NASA_ESAS_Architecture.pdf |archive-date=27 February 2008 |df=dmy}}</ref> [[Shackleton Energy Company]] has established operational plans, an extensive teaming and industrial consortium for developing LEO Propellant Depots supplied by Lunar polar sourced water ice.<ref name=ss20121214c>[http://www.thespaceshow.com/detail.asp?q=1914 Shackleton Energy's cislunar economic development plans] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130105032615/http://www.thespaceshow.com/detail.asp?q=1914 |date=5 January 2013 }} David Livingston interview with James Keravala, ''The Space Show'', 14 December 2012, accessed 3 January 2013.</ref>

=== Asteroid mining ===
[[File:asteroidmining.jpg|thumb|Artists impression of an asteroid mining spacecraft]]
{{Main|Asteroid mining}}

Some have speculated on the profitability of [[mining]] [[metal]] from [[asteroids]]. According to some estimates, a one kilometer-diameter asteroid would contain 30 million tons of nickel, 1.5 million tons of metal [[cobalt]] and 7,500tons of [[platinum]]; the platinum alone would have a value of more than $150 billion at 2008 terrestrial prices.<ref>{{cite web |title=How Asteroid Mining Will Work |url=http://science.howstuffworks.com/asteroid-mining1.htm |publisher=howstuffworks.com |access-date=12 February 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210094619/http://science.howstuffworks.com/asteroid-mining1.htm |archive-date=10 February 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

=== Space elevators ===
{{Main|Space elevator}}

A [[space elevator]] system is a possible launch system, currently under investigation by at least one private venture.<ref>{{cite web |title=The LiftPort Space Elevator |url=http://www.liftport.com/ |publisher=liftport.com |access-date=11 February 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212031628/http://www.liftport.com/ |archive-date=12 February 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> There are concerns over cost, general feasibility and some political issues. On the plus side the potential to scale the system to accommodate traffic would (in theory) be greater than some other alternatives. Some factions contend that a space elevator &mdash; if successful &mdash; would not supplant existing launch solutions but complement them.

== Non-launched efforts ==

=== Failed spaceflight ventures ===
After earlier first effort of [[OTRAG]], in the 1990s the projection of a significant demand for [[communications satellite]] launches attracted the development of a number of commercial space launch providers. The launch demand largely vanished when some of the largest satellite constellations, such as 288 satellite [[Teledesic]] network, were never built.

[[File:X-33 Venture Star in Orbit.jpg|thumb|[[Lockheed Martin]] [[VentureStar]]]]

In 1996, [[NASA]] selected [[Lockheed Martin]] [[Skunk Works]] to build the X-33 [[VentureStar]] prototype for a single stage to orbit ([[SSTO]]) [[reusable launch vehicle]]. In 1999, the subscale X-33 prototype's composite liquid hydrogen fuel tank failed during testing. At project termination on 31 March 2001, NASA had funded US$912 million of this wedge-shaped spacecraft while Lockheed Martin financed US$357 million of it.<ref>{{cite web|title=NASA Reaches Milestone in Space Launch Initiative Program|url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/x-33/01-31.htm|publisher=NASA|access-date=14 February 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080805093450/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/x-33/01-31.htm|archive-date=5 August 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The [[VentureStar]] was to have been a full-scale commercial space transport operated by Lockheed Martin.

In 1997, [[Beal Aerospace]] proposed the BA-2, a low-cost heavy-lift commercial launch vehicle. On 4 March 2000, the BA-2 project tested the largest [[liquid rocket]] engine built since the [[Saturn V]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Beal BA-2|url=http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/bealba2.htm|publisher=astronautix.com|access-date=14 February 2008|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205044014/http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/bealba2.htm|archive-date=5 February 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In October 2000, Beal Aerospace ceased operations citing a decision by [[NASA]] and the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] to commit themselves to the development of the competing government-financed [[Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle|EELV]] program.<ref>{{cite press release|publisher=spaceprojects.com|date=23 March 2000|title=Beal Aerospace regrets to announce that it is ceasing all business operations effective October 23, 2000 |url=http://www.spaceprojects.com/Beal/|access-date=21 June 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701234134/http://www.spaceprojects.com/Beal/|archive-date=1 July 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In 1998, [[Rotary Rocket]] proposed the Roton, a Single Stage to Orbit ([[SSTO]]) piloted Vertical Take-off and Landing ([[VTOL]]) space transport.<ref>{{cite web |title=Roton |url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/roton.htm |publisher=astronautix.com |access-date=14 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109095817/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/roton.htm |archive-date=9 November 2007 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> A full scale Roton Atmospheric Test Vehicle flew three times in 1999. After spending tens of millions of dollars in development the Roton failed to secure launch contracts and Rotary Rocket ceased operations in 2001.

On 28 September 2006, [[Jim Benson]], [[SpaceDev]] founder, announced he was founding [[Benson Space Company]] with the intention of being first to market with the safest and lowest cost suborbital personal spaceflight launches, using the vertical takeoff and horizontal landing [[Dream Chaser]] vehicle based on the NASA HL-20 Personnel Launch System vehicle.{{Update after|2010|11|13}}

[[Excalibur Almaz]] had plans in 2007 to launch a modernized [[TKS Spacecraft]] (for [[Almaz]] space station), for tourism and other uses. It was to feature the largest window ever on a spacecraft. Their equipment was never launched, and their hangar facility closed in 2016. It is to be converted into an educational exhibit.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/shooting-for-the-moon-time-called-on-isle-of-man-space-race-10101750.html |title=Shooting for the Moon: Time is called on Isle of Man space race |date=11 March 2015 |website=independent.co.uk |access-date=7 May 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914034208/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/shooting-for-the-moon-time-called-on-isle-of-man-space-race-10101750.html |archive-date=14 September 2017 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

[[Escape Dynamics]] operated from 2010 to 2015, with the goal of making single stage to orbit spaceplanes.<ref name="sn20160206">{{cite news |last=Foust |first=Jeff |url=http://spacenews.com/advanced-space-propulsion-startup-shuts-down/ |title=Advanced space propulsion startup shuts down |work=[[SpaceNews (publication)|SpaceNews]] |date=5 February 2016 |access-date=5 February 2016}}</ref>

In December 2012, the [[Golden Spike Company]] announced plans to privately transport space exploration participants to the surface of the [[Moon]] and return, beginning as early as 2020, for US$750 million per passenger.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/12/golden-spike-announcement/|title=Golden Spike Company Unveils Plans to Fly Commercial Crews to the Moon|date=6 December 2012|magazine=WIRED|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929211750/http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/12/golden-spike-announcement/|archive-date=29 September 2013|url-status=live|access-date=12 June 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

[[XCOR Aerospace]] planned to initiate a [[suborbital]] commercial spaceflight service with the [[Lynx rocketplane]] in 2016 or 2017 at $95,000. The first flights, to be taken by 23 passengers from the [[Axe Apollo Space Academy]], were planned for 2015.<ref>Norris, Guy (8 October 2014) [http://aviationweek.com/awin-only/xcor-lynx-moves-final-assembly XCOR Lynx Moves Into Final Assembly] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120195759/http://aviationweek.com/awin-only/xcor-lynx-moves-final-assembly|date=20 January 2015}} Aviation Week, Retrieved 20 January 2015</ref><ref>Hindman, Nate C. (23 October 2012) [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/xcor-lynx-the-supersonic-plane_n_2005323.html XCOR Lynx: Supersonic Plane To Fly Between NYC And Tokyo In 90 Minutes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826121122/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/xcor-lynx-the-supersonic-plane_n_2005323.html|date=26 August 2014}} The Huffington Post, Retrieved 19 February 2013</ref><ref>Chow, Denise (8 June 2012) [https://www.nbcnews.com/id/47742352/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.USOpQB28GSo Space tourists can hop on a flight in 2014, XCOR says] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120173404/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/47742352/ns/technology_and_science-space/|date=20 January 2015}} NBC news, Retrieved 19 February 2013</ref>

=== Private space stations ===
{{Main|Bigelow Commercial Space Station}}

By 2010, [[Bigelow Aerospace]] was developing the ''Next-Generation Commercial Space Station'', a private orbital space complex.  The [[space station]] was to have been constructed of both [[Sundancer]] and [[B330]] expandable modules as well as a central [[Docking Compartment|docking node]], [[Spacecraft propulsion|propulsion]], [[Solar panels on spacecraft|solar arrays]], and attached [[Space capsule|crew capsules]]. Initial launch of space station components was planned for 2014, with portions of the station projected to be available for leased use as early as 2015.<ref name="baocc20100715">{{cite web|url=http://bigelowaerospace.com/orbital-complex-construction.php|title=Next-Generation Commercial Space Stations: Orbital Complex Construction|publisher=Bigelow Aerospace|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710092025/http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/orbital-complex-construction.php|archive-date=10 July 2010}}</ref> {{As of|2021|October}}, no launches have taken place.

=== Lunar private ventures ===
{{Main|Tourism on Moon}}

==== Robotic Lunar-surface missions ====
The following companies and organizations had made initial funded launch commitments for [[Google Lunar X Prize]]-related [[Moon|Lunar]] launches in 2016:

*[[Moon Express]]<ref name="lat20110408a">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-moon-venture-20110408,0,1715396.story|title=MoonEx aims to scour moon for rare materials|date=8 April 2011|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=20 August 2011|quote=''The company is among several teams hoping to someday win the Google Lunar X Prize competition, a $30-million race to the moon in which a {{Sic |hide=y|privately|-}}funded team must successfully place a robot on the moon's surface and have it explore at least 1/3 of a mile. It also must transmit high definition video and images back to Earth before 2016. ... should be ready to land on the lunar surface by 2013''}}</ref>
*[[SpaceIL]]<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34462323 BBC] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225011828/http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34462323|date=25 December 2015}}, accessed 7 October 2015.</ref>
*[[Synergy Moon]]<ref>[http://lunar.xprize.org/teams/synergy-moon X-Prize website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421033113/http://lunar.xprize.org/teams/synergy-moon|date=21 April 2016}}, retrieved 9 February 2017</ref>
*[[Team Indus]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/team-indus-gets-slot-on-pslv-rocket-for-its-journey-to-moon-116110200836_1.html|title=Team Indus gets slot on PSLV rocket for its journey to moon|last=Krishnan|first=Alnoor Peermohamed & Raghu|date=2 November 2016|newspaper=Business Standard India|access-date=20 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170127110649/http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/team-indus-gets-slot-on-pslv-rocket-for-its-journey-to-moon-116110200836_1.html|archive-date=27 January 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
*[[Hakuto]] (ispace)<ref>[https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/20/14023336/google-lunar-x-prize-teams-moon-pslv-rocket-hakuto-indus The Verge website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624151901/https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/20/14023336/google-lunar-x-prize-teams-moon-pslv-rocket-hakuto-indus|date=24 June 2017}}, retrieved 9 February 2017</ref>

==== Private Lunar-surface crewed expeditions ====

*[[Shackleton Energy Company]]<ref name="ieee200906">[https://spectrum.ieee.org/mining-the-moon Mining the Moon: How the extraction of lunar hydrogen or ice could fuel humanity's expansion into space], ''[[IEEE Spectrum]]'', June 2009, accessed 5 January 2011.</ref> intends to undertake human tended lunar prospecting for water ice. If significant reserves of ice are located, they plan to establish a network of "refueling service stations" in low Earth orbit and on the Moon to process and provide fuel and consumables for commercial and government customers. If the prospecting is successful—ice deposits are located, the appropriate legal regime is in place to support commercial development, and the ice can be extracted — Shackleton proposes to establish a fuel-processing operation on the lunar surface and in propellant depots in Low Earth Orbit. Equipment would melt the ice and purify the water, "electrolyze the water into gaseous hydrogen and oxygen, and then condense the gases into liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and also process them into hydrogen peroxide, all of which could be used as rocket fuels."

=== Mars exploration ===
In June 2012, private Dutch non-profit, [[Mars One]], announced a private one-way (no return) human mission to [[Mars]] with the aim to establish a permanent [[Colonization of Mars|human colony on Mars]].<ref name="Team">{{cite web|url=http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/325858|title=Mars One: Human settlement on Mars in 2023|author=Anne Sewell|date=1 June 2012|work=Digital Journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604000020/http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/325858|archive-date=4 June 2012|url-status=live|access-date=6 June 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The plan was to send a [[communication satellite]] and pathfinder lander to the planet by 2016 and, after several stages, land four humans on the Martian surface for permanent settlement in 2023.<ref name="satellite">{{cite web|url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2405162,00.asp|title=Dutch Group Planning for Mars Settlement by 2023|author=Adario Strange|date=1 June 2012|work=PC Mag|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604000643/http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2405162,00.asp|archive-date=4 June 2012|url-status=live|access-date=6 June 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> A new set of four [[astronaut]]s would then arrive every two years.<ref name="Reality">{{cite web|url=http://www.gizmag.com/mars-one-human-settlement-2023/22799/|title=Mission to Mars meets reality TV|author=Dario Borghino|date=4 June 2012|work=Gizmag|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607215244/http://www.gizmag.com/mars-one-human-settlement-2023/22799/|archive-date=7 June 2012|url-status=live|access-date=8 June 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Mars One has received a variety of criticism, mostly relating to medical,<ref name="WIRED-20140212">{{cite magazine |last=Fong, MD |first=Kevin |title=The Strange, Deadly Effects Mars Would Have on Your Body |url=https://www.wired.com/opinion/2014/02/happens-body-mars/ |date=12 February 2014 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |access-date=12 February 2014 }}</ref> technical and financial feasibility. There are also unverified claims that Mars One is a scam designed to take as much money as possible from donors, including reality show contestants.<ref name="techspot.com">[http://www.techspot.com/news/60071-mars-one-finalist-breaks-silence-claims-organization-total.html 'Mars One' finalist breaks silence, claims organization is a total scam, 16 March 2015]</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite news|last1=Roche|first1=Joseph| title=I'm on list to be a Mars One astronaut – but I won't see the red planet| url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/18/mars-one-astronaut-joseph-roche-space-missions|website=The Guardian|date=18 March 2015 |access-date=8 April 2015}}</ref> Many have criticized the project's US$6 billion budget as being too low to successfully transport humans to Mars, to the point of being delusional.<ref name="Day 20152">{{cite news|url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2809/1|title=Red planet rumble|last=Day|first=Dwayne|date=17 August 2015|work=The Space Review|access-date=21 August 2015}}</ref><ref name='delusional'>{{cite web| last1=Dickerson| first1=Kelly| title=The Mars One plan is totally delusional| url=https://news.yahoo.com/mars-ones-plan-colonize-red-155056558.html| website=Yahoo! News| date=3 March 2015| access-date=8 April 2015}}</ref> A similar project study by NASA estimated the cost of such a feat at US$100 billion, although that included transporting the astronauts back to Earth. Objections have also been raised regarding the reality TV project associated with the expedition. Given the transient nature of most reality TV ventures, many believe that as viewership declines, funding could significantly decrease, thereby harming the entire expedition. Further, contestants have reported that they were ranked based on their donations and funds raised.<ref name="techspot.com"/><ref>{{cite news| last=West| first=Kesha| title=Ethical questions over one-way Mars trip| website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]| date=15 May 2013| url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-15/an-ethical-questions-over-one-way-mars-mission/4690824| access-date=11 January 2014}}</ref>

In February 2013, the US nonprofit [[Inspiration Mars Foundation]] announced a plan to send a married couple on a 2018 mission to travel to Mars and back to Earth on a 501-day round trip, with no landing planned on Mars.<ref name="pm20130227">{{cite news|url=http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/the-crazy-plan-to-fly-two-humans-to-mars-in-2018-15152667|title=The Crazy Plan to Fly Two Humans to Mars in 2018|last=Belfiore|first=Michael|date=27 February 2013|newspaper=Popular Mechanics|access-date=28 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302224710/http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/the-crazy-plan-to-fly-two-humans-to-mars-in-2018-15152667|archive-date=2 March 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The mission would have taken advantage of an infrequently occurring [[free return trajectory]]—a unique orbit opportunity which occurs only once every fifteen years—and will allow the [[space capsule]] to use the smallest possible amount of [[rocket propellant|fuel]] to get it to Mars and back to Earth. The two-person American crew – a man and a woman – will fly around Mars at a distance of {{convert|100|mi|km}} of the surface.<ref name="awst20130304">{{cite news|url=http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_03_04_2013_p24-553876.xml|title=Serious Intent About 2018 Human Mars Mission|last=Morring|first=Frank Jr. |date=4 March 2013|newspaper=Aviation Week and Space Technology|access-date=7 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095022/http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=%2Farticle-xml%2FAW_03_04_2013_p24-553876.xml|archive-date=10 May 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> "If anything goes wrong, the spacecraft should make its own way back to Earth — but with no possibility of any shortcuts home."<ref name="independent20130228">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-millionaire-dennis-tito-and-his-mission-to-mars-8512034.html|title=The millionaire Dennis Tito and his mission to Mars|last=Connor|first=Steve|date=26 February 2013|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=28 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228043944/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-millionaire-dennis-tito-and-his-mission-to-mars-8512034.html|archive-date=28 February 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

On September 27, 2016, at the 67th annual meeting of the [[International Astronautical Congress]], Elon Musk unveiled substantial details of the [[Interplanetary Transport System]] (ITS) design for the transport vehicles—including size, construction material, number and type of engines, thrust, cargo and passenger payload capabilities, on-orbit propellant-tanker refills, representative transit times, etc.—as well as a few details of portions of the Mars-side and Earth-side infrastructure that SpaceX intends to build to support the flight vehicles. In addition, Musk championed a larger [[Systems theory|systemic vision]], a vision for a [[spontaneous order|bottom-up]] [[emergence|emergent order]] of other interested parties—whether companies, individuals, or governments—to utilize the new and radically lower-cost transport infrastructure to build up a [[Colonization of Mars|sustainable human civilization on Mars]], potentially, on numerous other locations around the [[Solar System]], by [[innovation|innovating]] and [[supply (economics)|meeting]] the [[demand]] that such a growing venture would occasion.<ref name=ars20160928>{{cite news |last=Berger|first=Eric |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/musks-mars-moment-audacity-madness-brilliance-or-maybe-all-three/ |title=Musk's Mars moment: Audacity, madness, brilliance—or maybe all three |work=[[Ars Technica]] |date=2016-09-28 |access-date=2016-10-13 }}</ref><ref name=sn20161010>
{{cite news |last=Foust|first=Jeff |url=http://www.spacenewsmag.com/feature/can-elon-musk-get-to-mars/ |title=Can Elon Musk get to Mars? |work=[[SpaceNews]] |date=2016-10-10 |access-date=2016-10-12 }}</ref>

In July 2017, SpaceX made public plans for ITS based on a smaller launch vehicle and spacecraft. The new system architecture has "evolved quite a bit" since the November 2016 articulation of the very large "[[Interplanetary Transport System]]". A key driver of the new architecture is to make the new system useful for substantial Earth-orbit and [[Cislunar space|cislunar]] launches so that the new system might [[Rate of return|pay for itself]], in part, through economic spaceflight activities in the near-Earth space zone.<ref name=issR&Dconf20170719-49:48>
{{cite AV media |people=Elon Musk |date=July 19, 2017 |title=Elon Musk, ISS R&D Conference |medium=video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqvBhhTtUm4?t=852  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/BqvBhhTtUm4 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|access-date=September 13, 2017 |time=49:48–51:35 |location=ISS R&D Conference, Washington DC, United States |quote=''the updated version of the Mars architecture: Because it has evolved quite a bit since that last talk. ... The key thing that I figured out is how do you pay for it?  if we downsize the Mars vehicle, make it capable of doing Earth-orbit activity as well as Mars activity, maybe we can pay for it by using it for Earth-orbit activity. That is one of the key elements in the new architecture. It is similar to what was shown at IAC, but a little bit smaller.  Still big, but this one has a shot at being real on the economic front.'' }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=verge-20170929>{{cite news |url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/29/16378802/elon-musk-mars-plan-rocket-spaceship-colonization-iac-2017 |title=Elon Musk plans to put all of SpaceX's resources into its Mars rocket |last=Grush |first=Loren |work=[[The Verge]] |date=September 29, 2017 |access-date=September 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929071320/https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/29/16378802/elon-musk-mars-plan-rocket-spaceship-colonization-iac-2017 |archive-date=September 29, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Super Heavy is designed to fulfill the Mars transportation goals while also launching satellites, servicing the [[ISS]], flying humans and cargo to the Moon, and enabling ballistic transport of passengers on Earth as a substitute to [[long-haul]] airline flights.<ref name=neowin-20170929>{{cite news |url=https://www.neowin.net/news/elon-musks-plans-for-the-big-fucking-rocket-mars-moon-and-earth |title=Elon Musk's plans for the Big Fucking Rocket: Mars, Moon, and Earth |last=Blewitt |first=Richard Tyr |work=[[Neowin]] |date=September 29, 2017 |access-date=September 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929153255/https://www.neowin.net/news/elon-musks-plans-for-the-big-fucking-rocket-mars-moon-and-earth |archive-date=September 29, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since March 2020, [[SpaceX]] conducted several test flights of their [[SpaceX Starship|Starship]] spacecraft. The Starship is a fully reusable two-stage vehicle designed to take passengers and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. SpaceX had initially planned to have an orbital-flight in 2021. On Wednesday, May 5, 2021, the twelfth Starship prototype (SN15) made a 10&nbsp;km suborbital flight and achieved soft landing. SpaceX is currently in the process of improving and understanding the Starship spacecraft.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=SpaceX |url=http://www.spacex.com/ |access-date=2021-04-27 |website=SpaceX |language=en}}</ref>

==''NewSpace''==
[[File:Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster (40143096241).jpg|thumb|[[Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster]], symbol of the corporate and entrepreneurial ''NewSpace'']]
'''NewSpace''' (also '''new space''') or '''entrepreneurial space''' and &nbsp;'''astropreneurship'''<ref name="w636">{{cite web | last1=Baldenhofer | first1=Kurt | last2=Marschall | first2=Nicolas | title=NewSpace | website=Lexikon der Fernerkundung | url=https://www.fe-lexikon.info/lexikon/newspace | language=de | access-date=14 October 2024}}</ref> have been terms applied to contemporary and increasingly competitive spaceflight. This is characterized as a new private [[space race]],<ref name="s629">{{cite web | last=Cheetham | first=Joshua | title=The billionaires fuelling a space race | website=BBC Home | date=October 20, 2018 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45919650 | access-date=May 1, 2025}}</ref> with the [[billionaire space race]] being an example of this.

NewSpace developed out of the older ''alt.space'', which first tried to do things different than established space organizations like NASA, which are collectively identified as ''OldSpace''.<ref name="g120">{{cite web | last=FoustMonday | first=Jeff | title=The Space Review: The evolving ecosystem of NewSpace | website=The Space Review | date=August 15, 2011 | url=https://www.thespacereview.com/article/1906/1 | access-date=May 1, 2025}}</ref>

NewSpace is not different in its commercial element but rather in its reusability, start-up and expansion focus.<ref name="m590">{{cite web | last=Chatlani | first=Shalina Haresh | title=NewSpace: An Era of Entrepreneurial Branding | website=DG | date=2018 | url=https://repository.digital.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/1050753 | access-date=May 1, 2025}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Spaceflight}}
* [[Billionaire space race]]
* {{annotated link|List of private spaceflight companies}}
* [[List of commercial space stations]]
* {{annotated link|Commercial Spaceflight Federation}}
* [[Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization]]
* {{annotated link|Human spaceflight}}
* {{annotated link|L5 Society}}
* {{annotated link|X Prize Foundation}}
* [[Space launch market competition]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}
* Belfiore, Michael. ''Rocketeers: How a Visionary Band of Business Leaders, Engineers, and Pilots is Boldly Privatizing Space''. Harper Paperbacks, 2008.
* [[Piers Bizony|Bizony, Piers]]. ''How to Build Your Own Spaceship: The Science of Personal Space Travel''. Plume, 2009.
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/archive/SpecialTopics/toSpaceTimeLine.html Climbing a Commercial Stairway to Space: A Plausible Timeline] RLV News, 2 February 2006
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070324025146/http://spaceliberates.us/news/an-introduction-to-private-spaceflight/ An Introduction to Private Spaceflight] Space Liberates Us!, 20 March 2007
* [http://spacefellowship.com/News/?p=5480 Study defining personal spaceflight industry] Space Fellowship, 29 May 2008

=== Government ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060928232121/http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/space/library/reports/2002-10-suborbital-LowRes.pdf Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicles and Applicable Markets] DOC OSC, 2002

=== Corporate ventures ===
* [http://www.candspace.com/ C&SPACE]
* [http://www.starchaser.co.uk/ Starchaser Industries]
* [http://www.spaceservicesinc.com/ Space Services, Inc.]
* [http://www.space-frontier.org/commercialspace/ Commercial Space Companies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090608135939/http://space-frontier.org/commercialspace/ |date=8 June 2009 }} at the Space Frontier Foundation
* [http://astrobotictech.com Astrobotic]

=== Media coverage ===
* [http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=12252 A Word from the Know-Nothing Bureaucrats] NASA union viewpoint on private spaceflight
* [http://www.space-frontier.org/OpEds/20050214privateindustry.html Private Industry Can Help NASA Open the Space Frontier] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505001616/http://space-frontier.org/OpEds/20050214privateindustry.html |date=5 May 2009 }} Space Frontier Foundation, 14 February 2005

{{Space tourism}}
{{Spaceflight}}
{{Space exploration lists and timelines}}
{{private transport}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Private Spaceflight}}
[[Category:Private spaceflight| ]]
[[Category:Space applications|Private flight]]