Space exploration and the space industry, as a whole, in the United States have long been associated exclusively with the national space agency Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). However, in recent years, private players and companies have entered the industry after the federal government, through NASA, commercialized the space industry due to several factors. Factors included NASA's need to contract cargo deliveries to its crew in the International Space Station (ISS) directly from the United States (Dawson, 2016) and to free up resources to focus on major NASA projects. After being invited into the space sector, private companies started various business ventures such as space tourism which also developed as a potential business for the elite of the society which was beneficial and profitable. In this article, I explore the various reasons behind the commercialization and private sector involvement in the space industry, the various programs introduced by NASA to facilitate the commercialization of the space industry, and the resulting business ventures that arose through private sector involvement. sector. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe main reason that initiated NASA's attempt to open up to the private sector was the need to deliver crew members and cargo to the ISS directly from the NOI. As a result, in 2006, the government created several programs to facilitate achieving this goal. A program known as the Commercial Crew & Cargo Program (C3PO) and Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) was established with the goal of offering contracts to private companies to provide cargo and deliver crew directly from the United States (Dawson, 2016 ) to the ISS. An estimated $800 million investment in COTS by NASA resulting in the production of two new launchers and 2 new ISS cargo carriers (Martin, 2015). As part of the COTS program, the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) was tasked with supplying the necessary products for the crew members of the ISS unit. Another program introduced in 2010 was the Commercial Crew Program (CCP), also tasked with facilitating the delivery of cargo and crew to the ISS. According to Kathryn Lueders, program manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), the ISS was to be converted into a scientific laboratory that would focus on testing various outer space components. As a result, ISS crew members and necessary cargo, such as personal belongings, food rations and other equipment, would have to be transported to the ISS laboratory to carry out scientific research. Another reason that pushed NASA to commercialize its operations was the interest in taking advantage of the ISS. competitiveness that would come from private sector involvement, an advantage that was elusive with public funding because the government prioritized several factors such as security, employment and other concerns. However, with private industry, the sky would be the limit as companies would try to outperform each other in an attempt to win tenders. As a result, brilliant ideas such as developing cost-effective equipment would emerge and benefit the entire space industry. An example of competitive advantage was how SpaceX (SpaceX, Hawthorne, CA, USA) developed software for Falcon 9 at 10 times less costexpensive compared to what NASA spent to develop the same software (Martin, ). Following the invitation of the private sector to enter the space industry, NASA will focus on achieving its goals. Other examples of beneficial benefits resulting from the openness of the space industry include the 1300 satellites orbiting in space providing essential services such as GPS, TV signals, and other space technologies (Dawson, 2016). In 2008, CRS first contracted with two private companies to offer supplies to the ISS from December 2008 to 2018 in what was known as CRS-1. The two companies were Orbital ATK (Dulles, VA, USA) and SpaceX under the common name of Space Exploration Technologies (Dawson, 2016). SpaceX designed its own spacecraft known as Dragon which made the first cargo ship landing on the ISS (Dawson, 2016). The Dragon, while not reusable, was designed so that it could re-enter Earth from space via a parachute and make a landing in large bodies of water such as the ocean. This was seen as advantageous as the cargo, such as sample results, could be sent back from the ISS to Earth once the experiments were concluded. Orbital ATK used its Cygnus cargo ship to make eight deliveries to the ISS. On the other hand, SpaceX has made twelve deliveries to the ISS (Martin, 2015). In 2016, both spacecraft were hosted on the ISS, which has the capacity to accommodate 6 ships (Dawson, 2016). The CRS reviewed requirements for private contractors to include a compartment that would allow crew members to safely abort the launch mission in the event that things went wrong during the launch. In 2016, Sierra Nevada Corp. Space Systems (SNS, Louisville, CO, Us) using its Dream Chaser SpaceSystem (DCSS) cargo ship met these requirements and won the second contract, CRS-2, to resupply cargo to the ISS from 2019 to 2024(Dawson,2016). The PCC awarded contracts to The Boeing Co. (Chicago, IL, Us) and SpaceX to design and develop spacecraft with the capability to carry both crew members and cargo to the ISS. Such spacecraft would lower transportation costs. Boeing immediately embarked on the design of a spacecraft known as the Crew Space Transportation (CST-100) Starliner, featuring the ability to simultaneously transport both crew and cargo to the ISS. In addition to these two companies, Boeing and SpaceX, many other companies such as Sierra Nevada are potential contactors who can bid for similar contacts from the CCP (Dawson, 2016). NASA has also contracted several private companies to lead the development of technological systems and equipment to enable it to accomplish its mission of bringing humans to Mars. For example, the SNC company was tasked with preparing critical hardware components for the Mars mission, which would be completed in 2020 (Dawson, 2016). The Boeing company was also tasked with building a new Space Launch System (SLS) for missions that would involve exploration beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), as Dawson noted in his article. The Orion spacecraft that NASA plans to send into deep space on its pilot exploration mission called Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) will test these new systems that NASA created for the first time (Hambleton, 2018). NASA has also benefited from partnering with private companies like Boeing in its 50/50 joint venture. The two partners, NASA/Boeing, jointly developed the first cryotank with the rare ability to store liquid hydrogen or oxygen in 2014 (Darwin, 2016). A cryotank is an example of a composite tank that will reduce the,.