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<span style='color:green'><b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Private Spaceship Sets Historic Launch in Calif.</span></b><br><br>By Reed Stevenson <br><br>SEATTLE (Reuters) - The world's first privately funded rocket plane plans to shoot beyond the uppermost layers of Earth's atmosphere later this month in a bid to demonstrate the viability of commercial space flight, organizers of the project said on Wednesday. <br><br>The SpaceShipOne project, backed by Paul Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corp., and led by aviation expert Burt Rutan, plans to send a rocket plane 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, into the air and back down again in California's Mojave Desert. </span><br><br>(rest of article can be found <a href='http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtm ... ID=5327451' target='_blank'>here</a>)<br><br>Fascinating stuff. Back in elementary school, they used to tell us that we'd have commercial space travel by the year 2000. Now it looks like it might actually happen in the next few years.

There is a lto of comercialized space travel allready it's just that it's nto manned. Comercalized man flights are makign progress. It hink it's a great thing and a great leap foward.

Commercial space travel is getting closer. One technique I heard about that may make placing crafts in orbit much easier involves designing crafts with a mirror on the craft's underside, and focusing a laser on the mirror. As the mirror concentrates the beam it superheats the air underneath the craft to between 1x10^4C and 3x10^4C, causing an almost 7000% increase in the volume of the air underneath the craft. The sudden expansion of the air would propel the craft into orbit, theoretically. It sounds so simple and is so genius at the same time. I'll really be curious to see if these techniques develop. I think we'll see comercial space flight in our lifetimes. It may be a while longer, but I think it'll happen.

True, this has been in the works for years. Rutan and his colleagues have thus far been leading in the race to claim the X Prize. This contest is offering $10 million to the first group to launch three people into space twice in two weeks. This is certainly a nice motivation (in addition to worldwide recognition) to being the first to produce a commercially viable means of space travel.

According to promises in the 50's and 60's we should have been setting up bases on the Moon by now. Good ol' lsd was legal back then and it seems the scientists were high in more than one sense.<br><br>Anyway i wouldn't want to be in space, frankly i'd be scared. I'm too down to earth.

Question : What's the end game?<br><br>I mean, if you manage to get commericial space flights, for a good while I don't see a use for them. We already have quite a few quick ways of circumnavigating the globe, and going beyond Earth doesn't make much sense, yet.

"down to earth" hehehe, nice pun.<br><br>Do we really have a laser that can heat things to 7k?

Personally i'm not too much in favour of manned space flights because of the expense involved could be going to much better use elsewhere. Do it with machines instead.<br><br>As for the commercial flights, i don't know. It all seems a matter of personal choice whether it you would gain anything from it. Haven't we already done every manner of exercise of the effects of space on man? Maybe that's why the next step seems to be this?<br><br>I haven't read the article, i'm not interested in this subject very much.

Pff, I've already been in space.<br><br>In my <i>warp blimp</i>.

Well, maybe in 100 years it could be a common thing.

Oh my.. what does NASA got say about that?

NASA dosnt; care. They probably have to falow the flight regulations made by the FAA but that;s it. Why would NASA care abotu wether other poeple are goign into space to? It's not like it's overcrowded up there. Pluss NASA has stoped maned space flight unless they started it back up agian and I don;t know about it.<br><br>NASA invented draft beer.

<!--QuoteBegin-iyestorm+--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> (iyestorm)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Do we really have a laser that can heat things to 7k?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>Yes, they use them to trap single particles of matter. But I'm sure you meant 7,000 degrees, not 7 degrees Kelvin.

This story is making big headlines again, now that Spaceship One has finally made its first voyage into space. The pilot, 63 year-old Michael Melvill, subsequently received a set of astronauts' wings from the FAA.

Now that microsoft made it to space... They can monoplize the moon!