Tom Pickens, head of Spacehab, gave the lunchtime speech, in which he proclaimed that the time is right for this industry. Unfortunately, he didn't provide much support for the thesis, and much of his speech seemed to argue that it was still too early, at least in the sense that there's a paucity of fundable business plans. He is also much more enthusiastic about the prospects for the International Space Station and its ability to support microgravity research than I am. But then, that's the business he's in.

Spacehab has been saying that the time has been right to hand them free government money for the last two decades.