In the next decade I think we'll see an explosion in private engineering, not only in aerospace but also biomedical (companies like Halcyon) and materials (RepRap, Makerbot, increasing DIY) similar to what happened with the internet industry.
I love this:
"…somebody who has maybe been a secret space nerd all their life, made their money in software development, [then sits down and says], “You know what? All these other secret space nerds now have rocket companies. Why don’t I have a rocket company?” And they form one!
So there’s a lot going on right now, and I think it’s building on itself now to the point where honestly I give it two years in which we’ll see the first paying passengers to go on these spacecraft, we’ll see the launch of the first private space station, we’ll see a government lease a private space station for the first time, we’ll see the first private astronauts."
I love this: "…somebody who has maybe been a secret space nerd all their life, made their money in software development, [then sits down and says], “You know what? All these other secret space nerds now have rocket companies. Why don’t I have a rocket company?” And they form one!
So there’s a lot going on right now, and I think it’s building on itself now to the point where honestly I give it two years in which we’ll see the first paying passengers to go on these spacecraft, we’ll see the launch of the first private space station, we’ll see a government lease a private space station for the first time, we’ll see the first private astronauts."