Free Republic

Scientists, technologists, and policy experts who gathered recently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are enthusiastic about the prospect of lunar and Mars missions. However, they cautioned that the path to exploration beyond Earth orbit will not be easy and will probably require significant changes at NASA and in the aerospace industry. "We can in fact do this mission inside the resources that are available," but there are several thorny issues, said Robert Walker, a former Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania who chaired the House Science Committee and also served this year on the Presidential Commission on the Implementation of...

SpaceShipOne visionary Peter Diamandis wasn't thinking about history as he stood in the Mojave desert and watched a small, shuttlecock-shaped craft glide back to Earth having nudged the edge of space. He just thought it looked beautiful. It was only the following day, after the thousands of cheering spectators had disappeared, after the jubilant speeches had dried up along with the champagne, as Diamandis was driving his father back to Los Angeles, that euphoria — and relief — swept over him. So many people had trusted him, backed him, bailed him out even when others had ridiculed his notion of...