Astronaut Farmer: the Dream and the Reality

I saw the movie Astronaut Farmer starring Billy Bob Thorton and Virginia Madsen last night. While it would be easy to pick out some technical inaccuracies and a plot that strains credibility, I recommend it as a fun and inspiring movie (mostly family friendly, aside from a few instances of profanity).

The story of a Texas rancher who builds a rocket and spacecraft in his barn evokes a 'New Space' spirit while hearkening back to a very retro spaceship design. Here are reviews by Alan Boyle and Rob Pearlman.

The idea of a non-governmental effort to put humans into space has already come to reality, at least at the level of suborbital spaceflight, with the 2004 flights of SpaceShipOne. And private enterprise space travel may soon be reaching much further, as described by this article in this week's Time magazine.