All-Civilian Spaceflight Mission Launches - AVweb

The best reason to date for these launches, by far. Although each launch yields gains in technology, they are still a “Told y’all we could do it,” which is just a few steps (and a few $mil) above “Hey, watch this - hold my beer” in reality. Even if it is called a publicity stunt, the end result is millions of dollars for one of the finest organizations on this ball of dirt we live on.