America's Space Prize-For Private Orbital Flight

Remember the X-Prize, the $10 million prize that was awarded to Burt Rutan for his SpaceShipOne? Well, that was very successful in spurring research and effort into suborbital space flights. Now, Bigelow Aerospace is offering $50 million to the first American that can launch people into orbit (a much more difficult task than simple suborbital space flight) without taking goverment funds. You can see some of the rules here. Bigelow Aerospace, Inc. - America's Space Prize

I will undoubtedly be posting more on this in the near future. Some contestants believe they will have developed enough technology in the next decade that they will be able to beat NASA back to the moon!