The best thing to do now for space exploration is probably to develop small companies. Really, the space industry isn't very profitable, as said in the article. And even then, there's very little you can do if you're a small company, unless you plan to create part designs and sell the designs to bigger people. Even with small parts, that can cost millions. So, I'd rather have NASA partner with small companies, and maybe increase the amount of competitions and prizes (but smaller prizes, to make it more achievable for NASA and the smaller companies).
Something very important, too, is to find more commercial uses and increasing demand for going into space. Space tourism can work, and it is a little. Satellites at this point are also useful, but the market isn't growing fast enough to grow the space industry. Once it becomes a fully-fledged industry, it will quickly become much cheaper. Now, the problem is to create demand.