On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 20:54:18 -0700, "Rich S."
wrote:

If there is gold in the stars, who knows what obstacles we will overcome?
Incidentally saving our species. )

An undesired by-product? :-)

You really hit the nail on the head, though, Rich. Low-cost, simple access
to space will happen if there's sufficient economic motive. Right now,
Rutan has the *only* profitmaking business plan that includes manned space
flight: Tourism. Sending humans into space otherwise has been a
money-losing proposition.

It reminds me of a '50s SF story...I think it was Heinlein's "The Man Who
Sold The Moon." The protagonist is obsessed with the drive to develop a
moon rocket. He oversells to investors like crazy, and just before the
rocket takes off, he hands the pilot a bag of diamonds. He tells the man
to show the diamonds when he returns, to spur a "gold rush" into space.

But when the pilot comes back...he hands the protagonist *three* bags of
diamonds....

Ron Wanttaja