Spacecraft design was born as a discipline in the 50s and 60s with the advent of American and Russian space exploration programs. Since then it has progressed, although typically less than comparable terrestrial technologies. This is for a large part due to the challenging space environment, but also to the lack of basic R&D, and to other cultural factors within the design community. On the other hand, another reason for slow space travel application design is the high energy cost, and low efficiency, for achieving orbit. This cost might be seen as too high a "start-up-cost."
Indeed the shallow view is that we have been to the Moon, we have space stations, we have workable planetary orbital space craft, and we can get to Mars if someone put up the funding. What seems to be needed next is an efficient way to achieve orbit.
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