Hi Patrick: I can tell you believe in the "dream", and accept the risks involved as do astronaut & pilot candidates. Heck, you are our rocket ship poster boy. But the general public generally do not, and they are the ones who have to pay, not get paid, to do it. How many will back down when faced with signing a waiver of right to sue in case of accident? When insurance policies catch up to this new "tourist" activity? When a cabin full of tourists burns-up over Texas? And again, that aside, there just arent' enough of 'em, by a long shot, to pay the bills any time soon. I'd love to see the commercial spaceport and orbital Hilton in my lifetime, but I must temper my desire with experience. 2001 was almost 4 years ago and I still don't see PanAm service to orbit, and that after waiting 35 years. This stuff takes forever. Im still waiting for electricity for pennies a year, and my flying car...;) I belive it was Huxley who wrote about something called "Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy". The idea was to give the masses something to expend their energy on, divert their attention from, matters the government would rather the citizenry not address. I'm not suggesting any kind of conspiracy here, but the whole event certainly fulfills the requirements. The fact that we all have a certain predisposed weakness for this kind of thing makes keeping it in perspective even more important. LOL...My friend just told me that I've just beaten Peter Pan to death! How am I ever going to live THAT down?;) C. --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@trilobyte.net> wrote:
Hey Chuck (with others looking on),
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