United States government space agency founded in 1958 — which landed humans on the Moon, launched the Space Shuttle, built the International Space Station, and launched the Voyager probes — and which has been both SpaceX's primary customer and the institutional model SpaceX was built to outcompete on cost.
Created the entire commercial space ecosystem by developing the technology and infrastructure that private companies could eventually adapt — while its cost structure (cost-plus contracting, bureaucratic procurement, political constraints) created the opening that SpaceX exploited to offer dramatically cheaper launch services.
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