John Kennedy set the task of going to the Moon in 1961 and little more than 8 year later NASA’s Apollo program accomplished one of the greatest fests of mankind. America’s Moon landing 40 years ago this month was breathtaking for those who witnessed it and still spellbinding for those who will forever read about it in the history books.

The new face of American space exploration? Photo Credit: SpaceX.com

But since the Moon landing, NASA - America’s space agency - has lost focus. Three years after the landing, the Apollo program was scrapped as the nation no longer was interested and several more Moon trips were canceled. The space agency is not useless. NASA does a lot of important scientific work. Its satellites have visited ever single planet in our solar system and countless more Moons. The Hubble space telescope and the Mars robotic landings have contributed not only to scientific inquiry but to the romantic understanding of our place in the universe. And for some even provided spiritual solace. But the agency lacked unifying initiative that would captivate the American people’s imagination for the better part of the last 40 years. And NASA needs such a goal in order to justify its huge budget to taxpayers.

President Bush tired to do just that with his announcement that American should go to the Moon again by 2020 and then off to Mars. His speech was not greeted with the same fanfare of Kennedy’s. Going to Mars is certainly exciting, but President Bush did not rally the nation behind the cause and the time line of 2020 is so far off as to not merit consideration for ADD Americans in comparison to Kennedy’s “by the end of this decade” roaring call.

NASA needs to do more to inspire the American people, but it has thus far failed. If America could go to the Moon in the 1960s in 8 years, why should it take double that time for a second trip around given all the technology we have now [Bush’s speech was in 2004]? Further, NASA’s new space rockets have been dismissed as “Apollo on steriods” because instead of being the work of 21st century innovation the new rockets are more buffed up relics of the past. NASA needs rockets that evoke the word “awesome” in young boys and it needs to create a time line that is within the planning frame of an average America.

But while NASA is lacking, America’s space industry is not entirely boring. The private sector is thriving:

United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, is to use modified versions of their existing Delta 4 and Atlas 5 rockets both to go to the moon and to resupply the space station, but at lower cost. And if Ares is cancelled another winner may be SpaceX, a small Californian firm that is building a series of rockets called Falcon. These will be able to fly cargo to the International Space Station—and, if all goes well in the future, people.

SpaceX differs from Lockheed and Boeing in that Falcon is a speculative venture rather than having been commissioned (as Delta and Atlas were) by the government. Many see this sort of true private enterprise, rather than the taxpayer-assisted sort, as the way forward in space.

Private industry may have replaced for good the zeal, determination, innovation and vision that NASA once embodied. Or better still, it may force NASA to compete for the first time by ending its monopoly. Good old American-style capitalism may be exactly what is needed for Houston.