FINALLY!

The moon shots happened while I was in High School, and I thought surely we would be able to visit space installations by now... But the Government Types wanted to keep space to themselves, and managed to keep us out for most of my lifetime.

When Zubrin is on TV ranting about how we should already have a mars colony up and going, I completely know how he feels.

I personally blame it on Nixon and all of his comrades. But that's water under the bridge.

This, THIS is finally good news:

"The winning of the X Prize, the takeover of the Mir space station by private investors and the flight of Dennis Tito to the space station were the three shots that convinced investors that there was a market for commercial human spaceflight, a way to capitalize on it in the near term...and people willing to put money into the idea," Tumlinson said.

Comparing it to the moment before the flag is dropped on a race track, "the teams are building their cars and rolling them out to the starting line," Tumlinson said.

The Tumlinson timeline: Within the next few months the first companies will begin flights and within two years the first paying customers will be flying. Within three years the first commercial facilities will be overhead and within five years you will be able to fly commercially to orbit on a private spaceship.

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