In the case of NASA at least, I think things are a little more nuanced.
I don't believe we would have made it to the moon if only private enterprise had been involved, nor sent probes to the planets and the outer edges of the solar system. Those are very worthwhile accomplishments.
But, yes, I do believe NASA's time is coming to an end. We do seem to be reaching a point where private concerns are ready to push space exploration to the next level, and that's very exciting!
I think in general the way we fund things shouldn't necessarily be an either/or question. I can think of other examples where something needed to be publicly funded up to a certain point in its development, and then equally needed to be wrestled away from a public-funding model so that private businesses to keep it moving forward.
I don't believe we would have made it to the moon if only private enterprise had been involved, nor sent probes to the planets and the outer edges of the solar system. Those are very worthwhile accomplishments.
But, yes, I do believe NASA's time is coming to an end. We do seem to be reaching a point where private concerns are ready to push space exploration to the next level, and that's very exciting!
I think in general the way we fund things shouldn't necessarily be an either/or question. I can think of other examples where something needed to be publicly funded up to a certain point in its development, and then equally needed to be wrestled away from a public-funding model so that private businesses to keep it moving forward.