history made today - first successful civilian space flight

[cka]

So, the Ansari X-Prize was not even a half hour ago pretty much claimed by the group who designed and flew SpaceShip One. Today's flight went off like clockwork. No wacky rolls, no unexpected fires, nothing. Just like butter.

[Opaque]

So some random guys that don't work for a national space institute of any sort built and flew a rocket into space?

That's actually a history defining feet right there, and no doubt puts us closer to a Futurama type interaction with space: one where civilians of all ages travel freely with minimul risk.

[Error]

Uh, no. Today wasn't the first succesful flight by a civiliian into space. That was about 2 months ago. THIS is that team claiming the Ansari X prize, which is flying 2 flights in under 2 weeks to win a 10 million dollar price. And it wasn't actually some schmoe who did it, Paul Allen, that dude with more money that he knows what to do with, decided it would be worthwhile to do something that advances mankind and invested in a designer Burt Rutan. That investment paid off today, but Allen will only make back half of his investment with the prize. There were other entrents who were pretty close, including John Carmack from id Software, but he backed out shortly after that first flight I mentioned above. Richard Branson, the dude who runs or owns Virgin Atlantic etc, recently annouced that he was joining into a partnership with Rutan and Allen to form Virgin Galactic, for space tourists. So we are finally slowly escaping this rock we live on. We're just about 30 years behind where they all thought we would be when they started hurling men at the moon.

[Burky]

I wonder if it will ever be affordable to go though; right now, I can't see it ever being cheaper than several million dollars, if they sent like 50 people up at once.
I once saw a program on the science channel that had a theory about creating a elevator up to the moon, although upon thinking about it it is full of flaws.

[Curtis]

*in response to the joke subtitle*

Flying cars will never happen, at least on a consumer level. As many people who just smash into each other in what we have now, they'd be crashing into houses and the like all over the place.

This makes me very sad :'(

[Prince Planet]

I once saw a program on the science channel that had a theory about creating a elevator up to the moon, although upon thinking about it it is full of flaws.

Arthur C. Clarke advanced several variations of the space elevator and various methods for providing the requisite amount of lift. A few of these proposals show up in his novel "3001". Interesting stuff, especially since more than a few of Clark's "sci-fi" proposals have become reality within his own lifetime.

[Opaque]

I think the real problem would be attaching anything from the earth to something constantly moving around it. It's not like you can just ask the moon to stay still forever so our 382,260km long elevator doesn't snap off.

[Error]

Building an elevator to the moon probably wouldnt be practical, but building an elevator to a ring around earth would be much easier (relatively speaking) to attain. and once you are at the ring you could launch a much cheaper ship to the moon.

[AstroBlue]

Building an elevator to the moon probably wouldnt be practical, but building an elevator to a ring around earth would be much easier (relatively speaking) to attain. and once you are at the ring you could launch a much cheaper ship to the moon.

Fool. The ring will just be a breeding ground for the Spidercrabs that will aid in the assimilation of the earth under Darkon.

[Error]

I wish I knew which sci-fi that comes from, I hate missing out on a joke.