Free Republic

MOJAVE - At a time when space travel existed only in the realm of science fiction, Aleta Jackson knew it was in her future. "I decided when I was 6 I would go into space," she said. This was in 1954, three years before the Soviet satellite Sputnik launched the space age. Now, nearly 50 years later, Jackson has not quite made the trek into space herself, but she is deeply involved in private-industry efforts to get there. Jackson is a co-founder of Mojave-based XCOR Aerospace, a company working to provide safe, reliable and reusable rockets for access to space....