Yes it's a tired and over used cliche but to me very real. The future of our species lies in space and we WILL at some point use up the resources on this planet. We need the resources and manufacturing opportunities that exploring our solar system and eventually other stars will give us to survive. There are so many different industries that zero gravity could make more efficient, combined with the Moon and the asteroid belt for raw materials.

So this week I applaud Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic for their belief in the commercialization of space. The christening of VSS Enterprise is a good first step towards the privatization of space travel. I am also heartened at the number of other private companies that are developing not just sub-orbital flight but true low orbit habitats. The only way it will get done is through people like Branson who have a vision and realize the vast potential that easy space travel could have on everyone's lives. And yes, I also mean the potential money to be made.

Sub-orbital flight is also intriguing, imagine flying from say...LA to Sydney in an hour or two. I would bet that Boeing and Airbus have R&D teams looking at this.  If they don't, someone else will like Virgin Galactic perhaps.

NASA in my honest opinion, is both inefficient and under funded. The government cannot get us into space as a people, private enterprise can and I hope eventually will.  As I said in the beginning of this piece,  the long term survival of our species depends on this.  We have already seen so many spin offs from space technology that are part of our daily lives.

/cheers Virgin Galactic!

my 2cp