The first commercial spaceships for passenger travel are being built for entrepreneur Richard Branson of Virgin by Mojave Aerospace Ventures.
According to the BBC:
“‘Every passenger will have a spectacular view; they will have considerable windows and luxurious seats,’ Sir Richard said.”
Along these lines, the first successful flight and landing of a private spacecraft happened today as part of the cometition for the Ansari X-prize.
Once again we are encouraged by the creative, adventurous, motivated, technically pragmatic, nature of the human spirit. The very thing that gets squashed by regulation and govt. monopoly.
One can’t help but think of the viking adventurers of old and the “explorers” of the 16th and 17th centuries that risked so much for some trade and profit. Well worth it!
By the way, Dr. Palmer, have you read “The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan, the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America” by RUSSELL SHORTO? Mr. Shorto wrote this after uncovering 14,000 previously unknown documents regarding Dutch settlment and occupation of “New Amsterdam”. He paints a wonderfully adventurous picture of these times and people (Henry Hudson, etc.). Not the typical acedemic caliber that you are probably used to, but definetly complements your feelings about the Dutch being real heroes of liberty and intimate connection to “libertarian principles” (ala Morely).
Upon re-reading my above comment I noted some errors. Mr. Shorto did NOT find the lost Dutch documents. The 12,000 (not 14,000) documents were discovered in the 1960s by Charles Gehring, an archivist at the New York State Library. Sorry about the carelessness.
Steve,
I’ve not read the book and had not even heard of it, but now I’ve ordered a copy. It looks like fun. Thanks for the tip.
It is exciting to see real entrepreneurs and adventurers straining against the bonds of gravity to explore space. Most governmental projects have the problem (in addition to being coercively financed) that in democratic states they have become extremely risk averse. One of the wonders of the human race is the wide variety of types there are, including a wide variety of attitudes toward risk. The brave and the adventuresome realize their happiness by blazing the trail to new knowledge and benefits for all the rest. When an “average” attitude toward risk is imposed on all, all suffer. (And in fact, it may be worse than that, because every bureaucrat and politician prefers a “CYA” [“Cover Your Ass”} approach, which makes for absurdly high expenses, redundancies, and the like.)