Contrary to what some people seem to believe, NASA isn't an all-powerful entity when it comes to space. The US military space budget is easily twice NASA's entire budget. The Russians, Chinese, ESA, Japanese, and Indians all have launch vehicles that put stuff into space. The Russians have orbited people for over 40 years and the Chinese are getting close to being able to send people into space. NASA doesn't have a monopoly on space by any stretch of the imagination.

If Mr. Bigelow has the funding, he can build his space station module without NASA being able to do squat about it. He could launch it on a Russian Proton booster for somewhere around $50-60 million. Or, he could hire his launch on an Ariane V, Delta IV Heavy, or Atlas V booster for perhaps a higher price. He could then use Russian or perhaps even Chinese space capsules to launch his tourists. In the end, NASA would be on the outside looking in.

The key, of course, is money. I've seen many grand space proposals come and go over the years. While I wish Mr. Bigelow every success, I'm not holding my breath that he'll be able to raise the money to actually build and launch his space hotel. I very much hope I'm wrong about him but my heart has been broken too many times to get my hopes up.