Page 18 of this 2001 Commerce Department report

http://www.ta.doc.gov/space/library/reports/2001-06-trends.pdf

OFFICIALLY documents how the USA slipped to having just 29% of the world’s launch marketshare in the year 2000, even though it had 48% of it in 1996, and apparently ALL of it a decade before then. How did this happen if NASA has both a larger space budget than practically all of the rest of the world's civilian space agencies COMBINED (source: www.EuroConsult-ec.com), as well as a legal obligation set forth in its Congressionally amended charter to "seek and encourage, to the maximum extent possible, the fullest commercial use of space" (http://www.spaceprojects.com/launch )? Other countries evolved from being essentially nonplayers in space 2 decades ago, to possessing dominant commercial players today.