Me too—we will know soon enough—lets see if the Chinese can get it done.
The US private contractors are stuck in gridlock as long as they are depending on NASA.
We have solid common ground there. Space must go private, or it will stagnate and get stupid. Muslim outreach my ass.
The trick is going to be mining asteroids. The first one will turn several people into trillionaires. Then after that it will be a new kind of gold rush. For a few hundred years, mining will be the driving force in space exploration.