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for the US at least. NASA named a winner in their search for the next shuttle builder in Lockheed Martin. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orion/index.html The new vehicle is an enhanced, larger version of the old Apollo craft. I guess the space shuttle models were too large and harzardous to be deemed practical at this point in time. Nonetheless, they're going to be return fairly soon so getting the next generation of ships is imperative. However, in seeing this new vehicle, I personally am disappointed. Maybe it's the small size giving me a feeling of being underwhelmed or that people might be taking a step back. I actually see things in reverse of what NASA and the airline industry should be doing in building smaller vs larger respectively. Despite this, because of politics and lack of funding, I sense that it'll be private businesses truly driving the next generation of space exploration, rather than the government. The few billionaires in the world with outbound dreams are the ones who'll push innovation. Again to me it's not a matter of science, but more of marketing, money, and politics. Naturally, if our chief competitors in the world like India and China overshot us in this department (which is quite possible), the space race might have more support from the US government. I'm going to keep my eye out on that spaceport in New Mexico, even though they're taking forever to accomplish something that ought to take a year.