U.S. Air Force expands Blue Origin rocket cargo contract

Space Explainer: The Rise of Commercial Spaceflight

Over the past two decades, private companies have taken over an increasing share of orbital launches once handled exclusively by national space agencies. Reusable rockets — boosters that land themselves and fly again — have been the single biggest driver, cutting launch costs enough to make much more frequent flights economically viable.

This shift has also opened the door to crewed commercial missions, private space stations in development, and a rapidly growing number of satellite constellations providing global internet coverage — a scale of orbital traffic that didn't exist a generation ago.