Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson are racing to establish a presence in space. It’s not clear what the rules are, even as the $460 billion space industry is growing quickly. Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company founded by Mr. Branson, announced on Thursday that it would launch its first commercial spaceflight this month, joining Mr. Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Mr. Musk’s SpaceX in sending ticketed passengers to space. But travel is just one emerging corner of the industry, which is mostly fueled by U.S. and international government contracts. “We didn’t want to bring the Cold War into space,” Michelle Hanlon, co-director of the air and space law program at the University of Mississippi, told DealBook.

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Persons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Branson, Bezos, Musk’s, ” Michelle Hanlon, DealBook Organizations: Virgin Galactic, Mr, Musk’s SpaceX, Orbital Assembly, Citigroup, Soviet Union, United Nations, University of Mississippi Locations: U.S, United States, Soviet