Of course, almost anyone with an interest in tech and space knows about Elon Musk's SpaceX or Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, two heavy-hitters in the commercial spaceflight industry.
It's hilarious that Blue Origin is still referred to in the same category as SpaceX. It's clear that there are those who prefer Blue Origin, or at least don't want to see it vanish -- but, seriously, they've never orbited anything, and their test bed isn't equivalent:
I'm surprised that
Paul Allen's Stratolaunch wasn't mentioned, btw.
It's not unlikely that none of these companies will survive unless they partner with one of the currently viable participants. Over ten years ago, Kistler was considered the front-runner in the COTS milestone-based program that has led us to the current situation -- but they failed, over and over, and began to look like a wannabee, at best. Meanwhile, SpaceX not only survived, but thrived.
Other than Russia, China, and the ESA participants, most of the world's launch business (gov'tal and commercial, and some military) will flow to SpaceX, and as their cost continues to fall and reliability rises, the market for launches will expand, and much if not all of that will also accrue to SpaceX.
