Editing Private spaceflight (section)

=== Spaceflight privatization ===
Since the 1980s, various private initiatives have [[Startup company|started up]] to pursue the private use of [[outer space|space]]. Traditional costs to launch anything to space have been high—on the order of tens of thousands of US dollars per kilogram—but by 2020, costs on the order of a few thousand dollars per kilogram are being seen from one private launch provider that was an early 2000s startup, with the cost projected to fall to less than a few hundred dollars per kilogram<!-- as "large, even gigantic, reusable rockets such as Starship or New Glenn" come online. --> as the technology of a second private spaceflight startup of ~2000 comes into service.<ref name=tc20200818>[https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/18/private-space-industrialization-is-here/ Private space industrialization is here], [[Mikhail Kokorich]], [[TechCrunch]], 18 August 2020, accessed 25 August 2020.</ref>

The first privately funded rocket to reach the boundary of space, the [[Kármán line]], (although not orbit) was [[Conestoga (rocket)|Conestoga I]], which was launched by [[Space Services Inc.]] on a suborbital flight to {{convert|309|km}} altitude on 9 September 1982.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spaceservicesinc.com/#!company-heritage/c1z05|title=Heritage: Pioneering the Commercial Space Frontier|publisher=Space Services Inc.|access-date=18 August 2015|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150803174817/http://www.spaceservicesinc.com/#!company-heritage/c1z05|archive-date=3 August 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.astronautix.com/sites/matsland.htm|title=Matagorda Island|last=Wade|first=Mark|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Astronautica|access-date=18 August 2015|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210032018/http://www.astronautix.com/sites/matsland.htm|archive-date=10 February 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  In October 1995, their first (and only) attempt at an orbital launch, Conestoga 1620, failed to achieve orbit due to a guidance system failure.<ref>Tim Furniss, "[https://www.flightglobal.com/first-conestoga-booster-explodes-after-launch/13792.article First Conestoga booster explodes after launch]", 31 October 1995, ''Flightglobal.com''.  Accessed 1 June 2020</ref>

[[File:Pegasus Air Launch.jpg|thumb|right|First launch of the Pegasus rocket, from a NASA-owned [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]]]]
On April 5, 1990, [[Orbital Sciences Corporation]]'s [[Pegasus (rocket)|Pegasus]], an [[air launch]]ed rocket, was the first launch vehicle fully developed by a private company to reach orbit.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.orbitalatk.com/flight-systems/space-launch-vehicles/pegasus/|title=Pegasus|publisher=Orbital ATK|access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref>

In the early 2000s, several public-private corporate partnerships were established in the United States to privately develop spaceflight technology. Several purely private initiatives have shown interest in private endeavors to the [[inner Solar System]].<ref name="iac">{{cite web|last1=Pittman|first1=Bruce|last2=Rasky|first2=Dan|last3=Harper|first3=Lynn|title=Infrastructure Based Exploration – An Affordable Path To Sustainable Space Development |url=https://cammpus.s3.amazonaws.com/resource/file/5351/IAC_Paper_Commercial_Space.pdf|publisher=IAC|access-date=14 October 2014|location=IAC - 12, D3, 2, 4, x14203|year=2012|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026081409/https://cammpus.s3.amazonaws.com/resource/file/5351/IAC_Paper_Commercial_Space.pdf|archive-date=26 October 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In 2006, NASA initiated a program to purchase commercial [[space transport]] to carry cargo to the [[International Space Station]], while funding a portion of the development of new technology in a [[public-private partnership]].<ref name="belfiore2007"/>{{rp|10}}

In May 2015, the Japanese legislature considered legislation to allow private company spaceflight initiatives in Japan.<ref name="jn20150603">{{cite news|title=Private-sector rocket launch legislation eyed |url=http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002195521|access-date=5 June 2015|work=Japan News|publisher=Yomiuri Shimbun|date=3 June 2015|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607023425/http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002195521|archive-date=7 June 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In 2016, the United States granted its first clearance for a private flight to the Moon, from the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.<ref name="2016:August:Fingas">{{cite web|url=https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/03/us-clears-private-moon-flight/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIZctMMN9UqViHFf_p7Gh6wISe6jEMvRU11oYLHttJMHdVNLM_VQLdSbyT-KMyOyLiGIiuRTJ7aEPUVPFZ3PleRKEDSbP_iRvepmzCR_e4in9xJ0NPnv2We0Y7aPcnf9zeGmm9Fl_g4bXHJy5JM-OE6Y4j-WviLc7Z6zrbhevRA3|title=US grants its first clearance for a private flight to the Moon|last=Fingas|first=Jon |date=August 3, 2016|website=www.endgadget.com}}</ref>

On 30 May 2020, [[Crew Dragon Demo-2]] operated by [[SpaceX]] became the first crewed mission to the [[International Space Station]] in the [[Commercial Crew Program]].

After 2015, European-based private small-lift launch vehicle development got underway, particularly in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, but "France has largely been left out of this new commercial launch industry".<ref name=ars20211207/>  In 2021, the [[Government of France]] announced a plan to fund the "France-based rocket firm [[ArianeGroup]] to develop a new small-lift rocket called [[Maïa (rocket)|Maïa]] by the year 2026,"<ref name="ars20211207">{{cite news|last=Berger|first=Erik|date=7 December 2021|title=Concerned about SpaceX, France to accelerate reusable rocket plans|work=[[Ars Technica]]|url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/12/france-seeks-to-build-reusable-rocket-make-up-for-bad-choices-in-the-past/|access-date=19 December 2021}}</ref> which would be a government-funded but commercially developed rocket.

On 22 February 2024, Intuitive Machine's private [[Intuitive Machines Nova-C#IM-1 mission|''Odysseus'']] successfully landed on the Moon after taking off on a SpaceX [[Falcon 9]] liftoff on 15 February 2024 in a mission between [[NASA]], [[SpaceX]], and [[Intuitive Machines]]. This event marked the first successful landing of a privately owned spacecraft on the Moon and the United States' first lunar landing in over 50 years and the first lander to do so with [[cryogenic]] [[propellant]]s.<ref>[https://www.space.com/spacex-intuitive-machines-nova-c-moon-lander-launch-preparations SpaceX gearing up to launch Intuitive Machines private moon lander in February] Space.com. By Mike Wall.  Jan. 31, 2024. Retrieved Feb. 5, 2024.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=David |first1=Emillia |title=Odysseus achieves the first US Moon landing since 1972 |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/22/24080498/odysseus-lunar-lander-nasa-moon-intuitive-machines |website=The Verge |date=22 February 2024 |access-date=23 February 2024}}</ref>