A lot has happened since the original article was posted 13 years ago. I tried to get information to build a summary, but there is too much out there and it changes fast. Even Google was behind the curve. The best current information is in Wikipedia under "List of Private Spaceflight Companies." Some, such as SpaceX are launch vehicles, but there is more to the business than that. Bigelow Aerospace (here) built two modules for the ISS.  Bigelow founder, Robert T. Bigelow made his initial fortune in hospitality with Budget Suites of America.  (I mean, we're not just going there to ride around and come back, right?)  

It is pretty easy to heap coals on  NASA, as even I am wont to do, but they are far from a bloated government bureaucracy.  Remember that the loss of the Challenger was due to Martin Marietta's engineering managers. The failure of "group think" was first identified and labeled in Fortune because it plagues all organizations, even (or especially) business corporations. 

I look to the history of colonization. All the gold and silver looted by Spain made it poorer. Meanwhile, the English were happy to fish for cod off the coast of Newfoundland, and at first had no impetus to colonize.  If you lived the 100 years from 1580 to 1680 and looked back on your life, what could you predict for North America, even if you lived in North America? 

The extension of law will be fundamental to the successful colonization of outer space. Melinda Snodgrass wrote several science fiction stories about law in space (Circuit, Circuit Breaker) and she wrote the ST:NG episode "Measure of a Man."