6/21/2004 10:51:57 AM|||Nathan Moore|||

One small step for commercial suborbital flight, one giant leap for the infusion of capitalism into space travel.

I am glad to see SpaceShipOne work in such a heavily publicized trial-run. This is one case where the symbolism is certainly greater than the substance. The technology is not all that earth shattering. Scaled Composites has designed a hybrid fueling system for the ship, which is more stable chemically and greatly eases the need for expensive and complex refueling procedures. The truly earth shattering aspect of this flight is the breaking of a government monopoly on human space travel. The benefits of such a breakthrough are impossible to minimalize, though many will try.

|||108783341713072757|||It Succeeded