Is Richard Branson the Christopher Columbus of space?

[Buster's Uncle]

Is Richard Branson the Christopher Columbus of space?
Daily Ticker
By Nicole Goodkind  11 hours ago


The final frontier is finally being…frontiered. Last week both Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX made large strides in their quest to privatize space for both civilians and astronauts alike.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic was cleared by the FAA for takeoff last Thursday. Branson’s commercial space airliner expects to launch its first flights out of New Mexico by the end of 2014. Nearly 600 people have paid $250,000 to board the shuttle, which will orbit 60 miles above Earth.

SpaceX also revealed the second version of its Dragon spaceship on Thursday. The ship can hold up to six astronauts and claims to have the landing accuracy of a helicopter. It will go on its first test flight by 2016. SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA for 12 deliveries and the space company plans to use the ships to get to the International Space Station.

Other companies also have space initiatives — Google is financing missions to mine asteroids, and in what seemed like a PR stunt but wasn’t, PayPal announced Thursday that it would launch an intergalactic payment service for buying things in space.

Space tourism and the space economy appear to be very real and very imminent. 

“It’s great to see private industry and entrepreneurs tackling this problem," says The Daily Ticker's Henry Blodget. "Now you have folks with the capital and the technology is getting cheap enough."

Blodget compares this space exploration to the spirit of 15th and 16th century Europe, when explorers were sailing out over “the edges of the Earth to discover new things…it took a long time to do it but eventually the world was colonized.”

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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/is-richard-branson-the-christopher-columbus-of-space-144835191.html

[Lorizael]

If Branson is Columbus, Musk is Magellan.

[Green1]

But, to be Columbus or Magellan, you have to at least leave the harbor.

The harbor being low Earth orbit.

Just sayin'

[Buster's Uncle]

You can't take away that they're accomplishing something that really matters, though...

[Green1]

True 'dat.

But you forget Columbus had a sugar momma - Isabella. Yes, that Isabella, the religious nut behind the Spanish Inquisition.

Branson just got his from selling over priced CDs and DVDs before the pirates and iTunes made that unprofitable. Branson was a self made man while Columbus had to beg.

[Buster's Uncle]

I forgot no such thing.  I was thinking about it when I posted last.

But then, their whole point is kicking Big Brother to the curb...

[Lorizael]

That may be the point, but they're not doing so yet. Successful as Musk has been, for example, he receives a good deal of funding from NASA.

[Green1]

I forgot no such thing.  I was thinking about it when I posted last.

But then, their whole point is kicking Big Brother to the curb...

Indeed. BB needs to go.

Only thing is (and I have stated this before about Virgin), the plane goes nowhere. It is a joyride. Maybe it is a start. Maybe it is groundbreaking. But what if I wanted to go have a cocktail on the Moon? A space station? Take a lady and join the 300 mile high club?

That's right! 10 minutes in space is not even long enough to get your freak on in space! C'mon Branson. You can do better.

Until we get to  that point where you can and the price is in the reach of the common man (ie: not 8 years salary), I stay very guarded. Most feel this way.

I do not think the analogy fits.

[Buster's Uncle]

Doing suborbital and creating a tourist industry makes sense to me as a first step - bugs will be worked out, the tech will get better as they go.  Justin Beiber is my guinea pig.

Musk is contracting for Uncle Sugar because that's where the money is for his more direct approach - he can hardly skin Steven Speilberg for LEO cargo flights.  When he's got something human-rated, it might be a different story.

Both tactics have merit, and leaving my resentment of unattainable thrills going to the rich, I'm glad both are being tried.