Conclusion

What should we make of the rise of commercial space in the twenty-first century? There is no single answer to this question, but collections like this, the symposium that inspired it, and the extended space history community in general play an important role in helping us consider our answers. Books like this serve as opportunities for us to reflect and take stock of where we have been, where we are, and where we may be going, and they are opportunities for us to learn lessons from the past in terms of the evolution of space projects, programs, and institutions, which can aide us in our management and policy work at NASA and across the space industry.