Public/private partnerships and intergovernmental interdependencies have played a critical role in the development of all transportation modes that are linked together to form the American transportation system. Transportation system development has been a slow and incremental process shaped by national security, private sector economic demands, and availability of technology, population density and geography. Whether the initial transportation mode began at the private or public level, all sustainable transportation modes evolved through shifting patterns of public/private involvement. The purpose of this paper is to use this pattern to analyze and understand how the formation of public/private relationships have contributed to American transportation development and how the absence of these historical partnerships has inhibited the evolution of American commercial space transportation. The essay provides an overview of the public and private partnerships in the formation of new transportation mode development, explains how the lack of these historical partnerships have hampered American space transportation growth and provides recommendations for space transportation policy change.