[extropy-chat] SPACE: Private spacecraft blast offs June 21

[Emlyn ORegan]

Not only did it work, but it appears to have only cost US$20 - did they
miss out an order of magnitude in the news stories? Wow!

One of my favourite things about this event is the look and shape of
SpaceShipOne and White Knight. Surely, with a decent promotional arm
they could have recouped the entire cost via merchandising; I would buy
a toy of those craft.

Damned exciting. This was a bit of a trophy effort, but hopefully it
heralds a move away from the big trophy efforts of the past (eg:
stupidly expensive Moon landings, very impressive though, I'm not
dissing it), and toward a real affordable space industry. 

I was thinking that someone could offer a longer range prize for the
first group to haul an asteroid back here, but I guess it isn't
necessary (ie: it's prize enough in itself).

Emlyn
 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert J. Bradbury [mailto:bradbury at aeiveos.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, 22 June 2004 12:55 AM
> To: ExI chat list
> Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] SPACE: Private spacecraft blast offs June
21
> 
> 
> Ok, the news seems to have fixed the timeline.
> 
> Takeoff was at ~6:45 PT and landing was at ~8:15 PT.
> See: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5261571/
> 
> Bottom line: *it worked*  Private funding for space exploration
> is feasible.
> 
> Mind you it requires some pretty large wallets (>$20 M) but
> that is well within the range of quite a few individuals and
> the costs will be lower in the future given that at least one
> design is now done.
> 
> I would urge every extropian to go out on the town tonight to
> stop at a bar and raise a toast to what humanity is capable of.
> The news is so often focused on the negative -- let us celebrate
> the positive!
> 
> Robert
> 
> 
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> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo/extropy-chat


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