Virgin Galactic Takes the Lead on the New Space Race

I must say, I am fan of Virgin Galactic.  In this article on SPACE.COM Richard Branson spills some of his plans for Virgin Galactic.  http://www.space.com/news/spaceport-america-virgin-galactic-spaceshiptwo-101022.html.

Some very interesting things were in that article.  We all know that December 17, 2010 is scheduled to be the last Space Shuttle launch.  Richard Branson plans to take over for the Space Shuttle.  He stated in this article that he is starting with suborbital launches, then moving up to orbital launches, then finally to contracting with NASA to bring astronauts to the space station.  He is poised to make Virgin Galactic THE LEADER in the Space Commerce Industry.  Contracting with NASA to be their space taxi?  WOW!  This is one man that plans big and knows how to execute his plans.

Space X, however, got the contract with Bigelow Aerospace to transport people to the first hotel in space in 2014.  http://bigelowaerospace.com/  That is one hotel I want to stay at.

Once we get a private company that can take people to a space station things will get a whole lot more interesting.  That opens up trips to the moon, which opens up the prospects of a colony there.  Then the moon could be used as Earths orbit launch site.  The moon is the most likely spot to build larger ships that will take people even farther. 

I imagine mining in space will eventually be the big money maker.  Once materials can be obtained off planet then more space stations and colonies on moons and other planets will be alot easier to build.  Transporting materials off planet is very costly.  Even with the privatization of space commerce it will still be cheaper to use materials that are found off planet.

We all know that private enterprise moves alot faster then the government.  We could feasibly have a moon colony and a Mars colony in 20 years or less.  The only thing left is to find out a way to profit from it all.  Private commerce is money driven.  So, when someone figures out how to make more money from space then tourism provides, we will see space commerce explode.

This is the first step to it all.  There of course will be competition.  That is what free enterprise is about.  Opening up space starts with tourism.  This leads to more research and eventually to living out of this world.  I can't wait.  I am watching this closely.  I want to be part of this new life.  The final frontier is open for business.