Two Media Items on the Future in Space

A stimulating discussion on the direction of future space activities was aired on NPR's Talk of the Nation/Science Friday this pat week. The show featured Tom Jones, planetary scientist and former astronaut; Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX; Rick Tumlinson, co-founder of the Space Frontier Foundation; and George Whitesides, Executive Director of the National Space Society.

Unfortunately, the NPR affiliates in some major markets, including Washington, D.C., do not air the second hour of Science Friday, when this segment was featured. However, you can listen to it from the link at this NPR web page.

Meanwhile, Clark Lindsey has posted his speculative predictions on the next ten years in entrepreneurial space activity in his Commercial Stairway to Space v.2006.

While no projection of future events comes precisely to pass, these projections are a realistic speculation on what could happen based on enterprises currently underway. The next step in this direction could come as soon as this week if SpaceX succeeds in its inaugural Falcon 1 launch.