Slasdot carried this spacenews article detailing a new effort in manned spaceflight:

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is asking NASA to help fund the demonstration of a reusable space capsule the El Segundo, Calif.-based company has been developing in secret with its own funding for the past 18 months.

SpaceX President Elon Musk said the capsule, dubbed Dragon, is a "mix between Apollo and Soyuz" and is being designed to ferry cargo and crew to and from the international space station starting in 2009.

I can distinctly remember when I was growing up seeing many enthusiast books and magazine articles trying to convince people there was money to be made in space. Back in the 70s, it seemed that was pretty much all that was going on... talk. I find it amazing we actually have three or four companies making stuff to get people into orbit today.