TOKYO/PALO ALTO, U.S. -- For 19 hours on May 31, Nobu Okada was glued to his computer screen as the SpaceX Crew Dragon lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and successfully docked with the International Space Station.

An artist's rendering of the SpaceX Crew Dragon: The May launch shows it is possible for a private company to send people into orbit, something deemed impractical a decade or so ago. © SpaceX
From Japan to Singapore, space companies face financial and technical challenges