Commercial Space Flight

Aircraft technology was developed because a handful of entrepreneurs saw opportunities to make money. The early years of space flight was completely different. The governments of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R were the only groups developing space flight. It was really just a pissing contest with no long term goals or commercial interests.

SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, and Virgin Galactic are hoping to change all of that, but so much time has been lost. Aircraft went from crude prototypes to production combat models in under fifteen years. What would have been accomplished in the fifty odd years since the first satellite if that had been achieved as a commercial venture?

My imagination runs wild thinking about it.