It makes sense; there's no real reason for the government to own and operate a spaceflight company.  The exciting stuff in aerospace is happening in private companies, and especially in smaller ones.<p>Manned spaceflight doesn't have many good arguments in its favor, and in any case, if the government wants to get involved, why not buy the tech from a contractor?  That's how pretty much all military technology works, and as wasteful and inefficient as it is, it's probably a step up from direct government ownership.