Industry executives say that one or two of the three big rocket companies may eventually drop out of commercial launching.

Parliament authorized Congreve to form two rocket companies for the army in 1809.

Elsewhere in the world, rocket companies either are operated exclusively by governments or are mostly subsidized by them.

Still, American rocket companies have had their victories.

Politically, the Administration faces opposition from rocket companies that fear they would be put out of business by a glut of surplus military missiles.

"Delos, do you mean to stand there and tell me you put the money we had saved for the house into that crazy rocket company?"

Mr. Pike said there probably will not be enough satellite launches in the next several years to support small rocket companies like Amroc.

This was the first commercial rocket company in the United States.

In large measure this is because a rocket company usually serves two masters, the commercial market and the Government, with a single production line.

"Masterson Aerospace and the other rocket companies aren't going to like you," she said.