There is a very interesting article from spacefuture.com about "what could have been" regarding our development of space exploration and space settlement with the long title What the Growth of a Space Tourism Industry Could Contribute to Employment, Economic Growth, Environmental Protection, Education, Culture and World Peace, written by Patrick Collins & Adriano Autino.
Essentially the authors argue that we could have already built up a viable space industry by the end of the 20th century if the space program had not been shaped by the development of missile technology instead of viewing space as a destination for passenger travel (like the air industry). We have been in space since the 1950s, but by a "viable space industry", I mean a fully functioning space industry with mining operations on the moon and on NEO (Near Earth Objects), and colonies at LEO. It's true many countries launch satellites into orbit for a hefty profit, but we don't have a "viable space industry" at present according to my definition above.
The idea that we could have been space decades early was a very interesting premise and one that I had not heard before, but it actually made a lot of sense. Our whole approach to building rockets for launching satellites and later humans into space was based on missile technology, and those rockets are NOT optimized for passenger travel, because the rockets are incredibly expensive to launch and are not reusable.
What if we had started to think of space in the 1950s as a place to live rather than explore -- we probably would have had permanent space colonies in orbit by this time. It's a tantalizing thought.
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