While purists may say commercial industry has no business in the exploration business, they must also admit that it is where most the capital needed for massive projects and programs exists.
Estorm noted that wealth is a motivator for people/mankind to explore and seek out new frontiers.
It applied to the exploration and yes exploitation of North America in the the 17 and 1800's and likely can apply to the exploration of what is beyond this little orb going round its sun.

Should commerical industry be allowed to set the adgenda. NO. That should be left to the people (political will if you must say) to point the direction. If private and commerical industry elects to get involved, putting in resources, time, and capital, then they have a right a say as well as expecting something (profit) in return.

That said, a return to the moon may not carry much profit now, but decades down the road, who knows what our society and the industry will gain from this. If XYZ Inc wants to put a billion dollars on the line over the next decade, they are welcome to join and offer their input on the direction the programs head. Try to deny them the right to that input and they dollars will be used to do something else.

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'I don't know if I even have an aura, man. I just try to win.'
Tiger Woods

B) Big business in space is already happening. Actually all of the shuttle missions are prepped and supported by a consortium of aerospace companies. Two of these are Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

The real ingenuity and development genius comes out of private industry. I do not think we want to lose that, but we (the taxpayers) need to elect government leaders who do a better job of both utilizing and controlling this resource. An example of a bad situation is Halliburton over in Iraq that has been overcharging us to feed our troops and to supply fuel for our equipment. They would not be my candidate company for any involvement in space exploration.

h34r: Hey just remember some of the early scenes in Star Wars I where Hans Solo is taking on space pirates. That's right, fiction can be the truth.

setiman