SpaceX may have speculatively designed the Dragon in advance of NASA's resupply program (though I doubt it: the program was announced only one year after the Dr

SpaceX may have speculatively designed the Dragon in advance of NASA's resupply program (though I doubt it: the program was announced only one year after the Dragon began design, and two years after Columbia, when it was clear the Shuttle was toast). My point is simply that this is not the first foray of for profit enterprise into the space market. If you count the satellite market, then SpaceX is even less novel, as other companies (Orbital Sciences) have been servicing this market for 20 years. That said, their designs may be quite novel, even revolutionary; we'll see.