Space: Private businesses next step?

There has been a lot of criticism of NASA the last several years, especially after the Columbia accident. Burt Rutan, innovator of SpaceShipOne, has been very critical of NASA. While self-promoting, a new book by the Lunar Prospector designer, Dr. Alan Binder, echoes much of Rutan's criticism of NASA. Via press release Binder states, "it will also demonstrate why it is vital to the nation's interests that the exploration of the moon and planets must be taken out of the hands of the bungling NASA bureaucracy, and transformed into a commercially based program that provides a return on investment as initiated."