| | I attended a three day crash course called "Essentials of Astronomy for Engineers" early last month taught by a professional, published astronomer. (His name escapes me at the moment.) The instructor had great confidence in the impending penetration of space by private entrepreneurs. He noted that the cost of a big budget motion picture and the cost of a manned space launch will soon reach equilibrium. This demonstrates the capacity of private enterprise to accumulate and gamble large amounts of capital on potentially disastrous projects. He also candidly observed the risk aversion of government versus the risk affinity of private enterprise and said the nature of human space flight demanded the latter.
I still consider it a major mistake for any nation to abandon its own human access to space given its strategic importance.
(Edited by Luke Setzer on 2/14, 2:09am)
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