This attendee explained that he knew little about launch vehicles and did not have a technical background, but was very interested in the topic and wanted to learn all he could. The instructor said the course was technical in nature, but most of the material could be understood without having an engineering degree. The student decided to take the course.

At the end of the three days the same student thanked the instructor and asked about the advisability of building large pressure-fed liquid rocket boosters in order to compete with other launcher options such as Atlas and Sea Launch.

The instructor pointed out that large booster stages use pump-fed liquid rockets because the increased performance is needed to keep the stage masses and sizes down. Otherwise, the stages get very large and expensive, rendering them inefficient.

Thus, pressure-fed stages cannot compete with existing stages for large launch vehicles.

Alas, the student did not take that advice and proceeded to create a launch vehicle company to build large pressure-fed rocket stages to compete with existing vehicles. After spending three years and some $200 million, the company shut down operations and the student who loved launch vehicles gave up his dream.

Many entrepreneurs have tried to succeed in this business, but none have yet reached that goal. There is a famous saying in the launch vehicle business: "If you want to end up with a million dollars in the launch business, start out with a billion."

What is this lure that attracts so many to this business?

It may be the thrill of sending something into space and being part of history-making activities. Or, maybe it is just the excitement of lighting off rockets.

No one knows for sure. But, we do know that the launch vehicle business is usually a losing proposition. So, why do companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin keep on building them?