Private-space industry developing

Verhovek, Sam H. "Space Inc." Popular Science Jan. 2010: 34-41. Print.

Many Corporations, such as the company Virgin Galactic, are designing low-orbit craft for "space tourism" purposes. The private space-travel industry is growing; many passengers have already paid for tickets to later flights. The private space industry is increasing in size and now includes at least fifteen companies trying to build spacecraft. At least one group is promising to begin commercial launches as early as 2011. Companies with viable spacecraft stand to make even bigger gains when the space shuttle is retired by NASA. One group, Orbital Sciences Corp., already holds a $1.9 billion contract to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). A few other groups are vying to provide transport to the ISS once the space shuttle is retired.
I liked this article. It covers a very interesting topic and is well-written. However, the topic can be considered unimportant because of all the problems that we are encountering on the earth (e.g. global warming). Also, it didn't provide too much information about the companies themselves, and only mentioned seven of them.