It’s about damn time!
Posted in Geekery on July 12th, 2006CNN.com – Spacecraft carrying commercial space station launches – Jul 12, 2006
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — A Russian rocket blasted off Wednesday carrying an experimental inflatable spacecraft for an American entrepreneur who dreams of some day building a commercial space station, officials said.
Robert Bigelow (the founder of the project) envisions building a private orbiting space complex by 2015 that would be made up of several expandable Genesis-like modules linked together … He has committed $500 million toward the project.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the way the country has been fouling up the space program over the past three decades, the only way for us to establish any kind of real presence in space is for the private sector to do it. Three cheers to Bigelow for his foresight!
Of course, since Bigelow is the owner of the Budget Suites of America hotel chain, this is likely destined to be a hotel – but who gives a damn, so long as he builds it and proves it as a worthy technology :)
Hollerings