Short answers, pulled from the story.
Arianespace began operations in the early 1980s. This company was born from independent spaceflight efforts by the European Space Agency, which had been formed in 1975.
Ronald Reagan signed the Commercial Space Launch Act into law on the 30th of October 1984. This legislation enabled an American industry of private operators for expendable launch systems.
SpaceShipOne completed its test flight on the 21st of June 2004 to achieve the first human spaceflight in a privately developed and operated vehicle. This event won the Ansari X PRIZE intended to stimulate private investment in spaceflight technologies.
Ten billionaires made serious investments in private spaceflight activities at six companies including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and Bigelow Aerospace. These investors included Paul Allen, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, Ram Shriram, Charles Simonyi, Ross Perot Jr., Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Robert Bigelow.
Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic made their first successful flight to space on the 11th of July 2021. Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin also achieved a successful flight to space on the 20th of July 2021.