• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Forces of Geek

we like pop culture.

  • Home
  • FOG!
    • About FOG!
    • Contributors
    • Submissions
  • Pop Culture
    • Columns/Features
    • Interviews
    • News
    • Press Releases
    • Special Features
  • Reviews
    • Books/Comics
    • Clothing/Misc.
    • Merchandise / Collectibles
    • Movies/Blu-ray/DVD
    • Television
    • Toys and Games
  • Interests
    • Art/Collectibles
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Gadgets/Tech
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Other
    • Podcasts
    • Television
    • Toys and Games
  • Contests
    • Screening
    • Giveaway

Privatized Commercial Space Travel is Here!

December 8, 2010 by Matt Kennedy

ShareTweet

“[Space travel] will come, but only when there is a high enough demand so that you can have a “public highway” system. To support today’s air traffic network, you’ve got to have a million passengers constantly on the move. The same will be true in space: It’s not really a technology problem, it’s more a sort of chicken-and-egg economic problem. I hope that it will grow, probably on the back of the military. The military has needs for all kinds of space launching and is prepared to pay for it. So with luck something like this space highway will develop. It doesn’t matter who pays for it initially. In the end it will belong to everybody.” – FREEMAN DYSON

The first privately funded spaceship was successfully launched into orbit today, giving birth to an industry that has long been the subject of only science-fiction and boastful speculation: that of Commercial Spaceflight.

Several private citizens (of the 500 total space travelers) have previously orbited the earth in NASA, Soyuz and Mir spacecrafts, and this latest SpaceX rocket, Dragon, is still only available to professional astronauts and millionaires, so we’re not quite in the age of The Jetsons yet. But in researching this story I came across a few other interesting developments in the intergalactic spread of capitalist ideology.

Boeing has apparently entered into an exclusive contract with Space Adventures, the company that assisted former microsoft executive Charles Simonyi on his two 400KM orbits aboard the international space station. The Space Adventures website is now set up to receive extraterrestrial travel packages with spacewalk and lunar landing options.

The CST-100, Boeing’s space shuttle, won’t be operational until 2015, so at this moment in time, you’ll need to book your trip about four years in advance. Anyone in a 2012 panic will still have to make alternative plans for the end of the Mayan calendar.

This a truly historic day, and too soon to voice all of my concerns about what this will mean, in light of what greedy corporations have already done to this planet. Let’s call it one small step for man and one giant leap for capitalism.

THE LIST
Best Film Released Last Week: Black Swan
Looking forward to: The Fighter
Best DVD Released This Week: Inception
Best DVD Release Next Week: Micmacs
Best Book on shelves right now: 75 Years of DC Comics by Paul Levitz
Best Track of the Moment: XXXO by M.I.A.
Best Album I haven’t Heard Yet: “Endlessly” by Duffy
Best Video Game I Haven’t Mastered Yet: Dance Central for Kinect 360

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Related Posts

  • CATS IN SPACE

    In the future the felines will rise up and enter the space race, searching the…

  • Learn All About Space Travel In This New PROMETHEUS Featurette

    Here is the latest featurette from Prometheus. In this one we get a closer look…

  • HOW TO PUKE In Space

    Seeing that we are heading toward an era when regular folks will be able to…

Filed Under: General Tagged: Science/Nature, Top List, Written by Matt Kennedy

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • ‘Jay and Silent Bob Reboot’ Arrives on Blu-ray (plus Digital), DVD, Digital, and On Demand January 21 December 13, 2019
  • Dynamite Launches New Imprint for Prose Novels – Dynamite Books! December 13, 2019
  • ‘Batman Curse of the White Knight #5’ (review) December 13, 2019
  • DC Celebrates Robin’s 80th Anniversary in 100-Page One Shot December 13, 2019
  • ‘Detective Comics #1017’ (review) December 13, 2019

INTERVIEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

  • FOG! Chats With Author CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN About His Latest BALTIMORE Series Co-Written by Mike Mignola
  • FOG! Chats With RICHARD GRIFFIN, Director of SINS OF DRACULA; Plus Win a DVD of the Movie!
  • FOG! Chats With DIABLO Co-Writer/Director LAWRENCE ROECK
  • FOG! Chats With ‘The Revisionist’ Writer Frank J. Barbiere
  • FOG! Chats With Matt Kindt About Magic & Mystery in ‘Ether’
Online Casino Betway
League Podcast

Footer

Connect with FOG!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

DISCLAIMER: Forces of Geek is protected from liability under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions. All posts are submitted by volunteer contributors who have agreed to our Code of Conduct. FOG! will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please contact us for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content.

Copyright © 2019 — Forces of Geek • All rights reserved.

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.