Just like Rockwell, Boeing, General Dynamics or any number of private companies have been able to grow without outrageous government subsidies and development contracts through the years? /s
While there is a robust commercial demand for LEO capability, the lion's share of that demand still comes from the US government. It only makes sense from a tax-payer perspective that a responsible government would look to the private marketplace to pare down costs, something that has eluded NASA all these yeras. If you look at SpaceX ability to perform the last 6 years, no NASA program has come close to their record of achievement. They project that they'll be able to provide LEO at $1200 per kilo. That's simply amazing.
“Just like Rockwell, Boeing, General Dynamics or any number of private companies have been able to grow without outrageous government subsidies and development contracts through the years? /s”
Sure, so you’re going to pay a new company to reinvent what those companies had 30 years ago.