Private companies win the future in space.

It’s been—in my eyes—an ugly battle.

On one side, we have the old NASA, one that had been struggling for years to return to the moon with an insufficient budget, trying to stay alive. They wanted Constellation, and a new manned lunar landing, even if it had to be scaled down.

When it became clear they wouldn’t get that, the old NASA fought to simply retain jobs.

Meanwhile, private companies eyeballing government money, showed their fangs, claiming Constellation was a failure and only the innovative genius of private companies could do great things in space.

Of course, I’m simplifying here. Some of the private companies HAVE demonstrated that they CAN do great things. And Constellation, behind schedule due to insufficient funding and technical challenges that beset developing ANY new spacecraft, was not perfect.

But Constellation in 2010 was no more troubled than Apollo was in 1967. And Apollo succeeded.

In any case, with the impending budget agreement on NASA, the die is cast. The new NASA will funnel money to private companies who will…well, who knows? Maybe build a spacecraft and put astronauts onto an asteroid. Or maybe just find excuses to get lots of government money and turn a good profit while delivering nothing exciting.

The agreement offers SOME compromise. Some NASA employees will hang on to their jobs for a while longer. And the funding for private space initiatives is less than was requested.

But, for better or worse, the Obama space plan—which is very vague—is the winner. I can’t help but worry that the real goal now isn’t to land on an asteroid or go to Mars; it’s simply to maximize shareholder return…while the taxpayer puts up the money.