NASA may finally be ready to blast off, literally, with greatly expanded capacity, by going to the private sector for space transportation rather than owning and operating all its own space vehicles.

Faced with the problem of using the literally antique Space Shuttles (more than thirty years old in design) just to get food and supplies to the space station and many years from having a replacement, NASA appears to be finally shifting course.

Part of what enables this shift is technology. What was truly pioneering engineering and research effort twenty or thirty years ago can now be designed with inexpensive CAD/CAM programs on powerful and cheap computers. New materials and computer manufacturing allow small space start up companies to build sophisticated space vehicles quickly and economically.

Regions that have been investing in space (New Mexico, Texas, Virginia, among others) may see a small but steady economic development benefit as space startups win big NASA contracts for various kinds of space vehicles and equipment.