Free Liberal

Coordinating towards higher values

| Features

Virgin Galactic's Latest

by Paul Jacob

It seems like only yesterday that Burt Rutan flew SpaceShip One into near-orbit and received the Ansari X-Prize for piloting the first manned private craft into space.

But it's been five years.

Things have happened in the meantime. To be specific, SpaceShip Two, just unveiled.

It's a much larger ship than the original, capable of carrying six passengers as well as two pilots. It has more windows. I like windows.

A year or so ago the company, Virgin Galactic, had shown off their White Knight Two, a twin-fuselage aircraft designed to ferry SpaceShip Two high into the atmosphere.

There's still a lot of work to be done before rich people can actually trek up into space. Yes, space tourism is a few years away. But it's coming, and it's important.

As long as space is a government-subsidized and -organized industry, it will suffer from the usual problems associated with bureaucracies and politics.

But let's give NASA its due: Those scientists and engineers took the risks, squelching the screechings of many folks who, these days, don't approve of burning any kind of fuel, really, or risking anyone's life. Think of the lawsuits that would have happened — the OSHA violations, for instance — had private industry been allowed to start this!

Now, it's high time for private enterprise to take over. To make space flight rational. And fun, again.

Paul Jacob's "Common Sense" is published by the Citizens in Charge Foundation. Their website can be visited at www.citizensincharge.org.

« Bizarre Spending Habits | Main | Census: A Little Too Personal »

Comments

Nobody I know is more passionate about commercial space activities, especially space tourism, than me. Yet, I have to wonder about the Virgin Galactic delays. Something isn't right about what has been happening. We were told in 2004 that there would be tourist flights beginning in 2007. In July 2009, we were told there would be tourist flights in about 18 months, which puts it to 2011. That's a very long time in space activities, many generations of computer technology.

I do agree that space tourism is important, and that NASA should be kicked out of the space biz. NASA is not useful, is run by evil men and women who hate individual liberty, and is populated by clock watchers who don't deserve to be involved in the great adventure of space flight. NASA delenda est.

It is purely down to safety, imagine if one of the first 10 flights blows up ... there goes their business. Surely that makes sense to you?

# posted at by na

I would hardly call most NASA engineers or program managers evil, it is the culture that they have to work in. A big part of the culture is that NASA is a jobs program for the aerospace industry, with congressional heat to assure that this is the case.

As for the blow-up problem for private space transport, this is only a problem for someone stupid enough to launch from American soil. If you have the scratch to launch into space, you will do it nearer to the equator and buy of the local constabulary.

We don't stop wars because people die in training or in battle. The same should hold true for space systems built by the same manufacturers.

# posted at by Michael Bindner