Safe on the ground again SpaceshipOne has won the $10 million Ansari X prize as the first privately-funded spacecraft to complete two journeys into space within a two week period. Pilot Brian Binnie, designer Burt Rutan, and all of the people of Scaled Composites are to be congratulated on making another great step in the journey of human beings into space.
“I strongly feel that, if we are successful, our program will mark the beginning of a renaissance for manned space flight.”
Rutan is quoted as saying in an X Prize statement.
I sincerely hope so. If today’s triumph is merely a prodigy, it will be exciting for a while but will fade in time. Space tourism, too, in my view is merely an oddity, a toy for the wealthy. If it spurs more enthusiasm and support for space travel, well and good.
I still believe that real commercial exploitation of space is the future of space travel.
