Interesting op ed on The Virgin crash at Wired.

[SheilaT]

7. What tblue37 said.

We will not have colonies on the Moon or on Mars or any hope of starships unless private enterprise gets involved. Fickle taxpayer funding isn't going to do it. If the only people who ever get to go into space are sent there by the government, not very many will ever go. Well, maybe governments will establish penal colonies out there, but I sort of doubt it.

The first cars were toys for the wealthy, and I recall my mother once telling me that when she was in nursing school in the mid-1930's, a classmate thought she was rich because her father owned a car. They weren't rich, but cars were just making that transition from "you had to be rich to have one" to something many, many ordinary people owned. Today, not having a car (outside of NYC) tends to be a mark of poverty.

So to condemn Virgin Galactic because only the very wealthy will ever fly on their vehicles, misses the point. If you ever hope that you or your grandchildren can vacation or live off earth, you should be happy VG is doing their share to make that happen.