The government would not contract with that private supplier. Private-sector representatives said this was realistic only if NASA stayed out of the way and did not force the private providers to use the Shuttle or proposed station. Needless to say, that approach never saw the light of day. Today we face the sad spectacle of space enthusiasts defending programs that make space activities more costly and less feasible against critics who denigrate the importance of space science and exploration. Space enthusiasts in and outside NASA must remember that space is a place, not a program.
Commercial activities are beneficial only if they are cost-effective.
Further, only the market can reduce costs and efficiently allocate resources. And lower costs make the quest for knowledge and space exploration for the sheer human adventure more practical and affordable. And there was a time when governments did little to fund civilian science. The first liquid-fueled rocket was developed and launched privately, in 1926, by Dr. Robert Goddard. The largest working optical telescopes in this century, those on Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar in California, and the one on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, were built principally with private funds.