&gt;  but is isn&#x27;t like they are going to allow everyone else on the planet to start using their technology<p>I don&#x27;t understand.  Did the Apollo program do that?  Did it even intended to?   NASA is a government agency, so I guess you can tell that &quot;people&quot;, and more accurately american citizens, own it, but isn&#x27;t it a bit abstract?<p>For the common Joe, NASA and SpaceX are two organizations that are just as opaque and difficult to join or &quot;own&quot;.<p>There really is not as much difference as you seem to think, and I don&#x27;t get why only Apollo 11 could be an &quot;event for all mankind&quot;.  Also SpaceX certainly is the &quot;realization of a dream&quot;, at the very least of Musk&#x27;s dream.