The development of the private space industry had context to it. It was the failure of the early space shuttles, and the end of the cold war that caused the conclusion of the space race, The storm led the UA to drop a large number of important projects in the 80s which resulted in aerospace giants never realizing their investment and their enthusiasm for the industry taking a significant hit.
After the cut in the 90s, as well as the integration of the aerospace industry, Pratt & Whitney, Boeing, Lockheed Martin's monopoly of the market were not comparable to the 60s. They were more sensitive to risk and began to be half-hearted on commercial launches, only favoring the defense business. The price of launches was not only expensive but the RD-180 engine invested by the UA, due to manufacturers reluctance to build a plant, must depend on Russia for production.
