[Jaysun]

Nah, tourism is just a money generator to get some positive cash flow and keep the accomplishments in the public eye. There are more important goals these guys are shooting for. For instance, Bigelow is studying the possiblity of supplying their inflatable modules to the military for sattelite repairs. Turns out their design makes them very stealthy and the military wants to carry out unobserved updates and repairs in space.

Good. I fully support military related spending in space. These other projects seem a waste. The largest justification is that we're developing technologies that will help us further what we've already been doing. In other words, perhaps we'll put a flag and a golf ball on some other lifeless sphere someday. Oh the joy.

[saganite]

Sorry you feel that way. I fully support space based exploration and research. I just happen to believe that NASA has totally lost it's way and is nothing more than a bloated bureaucracy. The private space exploration groups on the other hand are spending their own money, not the taxpayers, to do what NASA can't or won't do. I expect that within the next 20 years the privately funded groups will surpass NASA and make it irrelevant.