No wonder other industries are trying to capture the same magic, and the space sector is no exception.
The burgeoning commercial space sector is also casting its gaze towards Earth's only natural satellite with companies considering everything from mining the lunar surface to building extraterrestrial resorts on it.
As I've written before, government and industry in the UK now have a joint plan to push the space sector forward, and Science Minster David Willetts has been steadily working through a checklist that broadly follows the recommendations in the Space Innovation and Growth Strategy (S-IGS) published in 2010.
We also take a closer look at how the commercial space sector is pushing exploration forward with Google Lunar X Prize senior director, Alexandra Hall, a lunar rover team at Carnegie Mellon, the Space Angels Network VC firm and Laser Motive, which is working on powering crafts through lasers.
Musk has outsized ambitions to create private sector space travel and electric sports cars.
Rahim Kanani: Lastly, on a personal note, who are some of your own heroes in the social sector space, and how have they inspired you?
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The biotech space is the one sector where early-stage winners are difficult to find because of the complexity of the medical breakthroughs that young life-science companies are trying to achieve.
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Privatize the production of space hardware that the private sector does best, the rockets.
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One year after that mission, I left NASA for a job in the private sector supporting human space flight.
The effort represents the latest development in private sector companies moving into space exploration.
Verified Identity is the only private sector company in the space, though Unisys and Saflink, a Kirkland, Wash.
Despite those who interpret the failure of Solyndra as proof that renewable energy is not a viable sector, the cleantech space is still very much alive and growing.
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Verified Identity is the only private sector company in the space, though Unisys (nyse: UIS - news - people ) and Saflink, a Kirkland, Wash.
It means guaranteeing space for civil society and the private sector to operate.
In theory, there is a a very small amount of space between the German definition of private sector involvement and the ECB's - and the French - definition of selective default.
In fact, this new era will be known for democratizing space travel, moving it into the private sector, and making it available to the general public, rather than just a few highly trained and government-employed specialists.
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"We're handing off to the private sector our transportation to the International Space Station so that Nasa can focus on what we do best - exploring even deeper into our Solar System, with missions to an asteroid and Mars on the horizon, " explained agency administrator Charles Bolden.
This dwindling supply of space in central Washington comes amid growth in the office sector over the years and a population that is back on the rise after decades of decline.
Mr Willetts believes the successes of his space leadership council, which brings together key players in the sector into an advisory forum, can be mirrored in other science-related industries.
VCs provide them with office space and access to their network while they gestate an idea or sector.
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Once the Bush Administration realized how far gone military space was, it scaled back its ambitions and worked to rebuild the sector.
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The space industry has agreed a path forward with government that aims to boost the sector.
Plus, it would rather like the private sector to offer a cheaper way of delivering cargo to the International Space Station than the deal it gets from its current overfed contractors.
The private sector, meanwhile, had cottoned on to the fact that pleasant public space is profitable.
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Ellison has been supported by top equipment manufacturing companies in the archery performance sector, but has had no support from companies from outside of that space.
And it will raise concern again among the partners on the International Space Station (ISS) that there may be systemic problems in the Russian launch sector.
Since most of the cost of space travel is the launch, the price might come down even more if the private sector can lower the costs of getting into orbit.
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Mr. Lichter acknowledged filling the office space would be a challenge but said Akron has benefited recently from growth in the natural-gas sector, which is expanding drilling using hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking, " nearby.
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Fred has cultivated a clear perspective on the consumer Internet space throughout his tenure as a venture capitalist, and both he and Union Square remain attracted to a sector that seems to have fallen out of favor in the current venture community.
Such competition, as in business, usefully disciplines the public sector, even as it can lead to policy gridlock (as noted about India in this space last issue.) And the competition is real: Around the world we see a remarkable number of closely fought elections with high stakes.
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