The President's Commission on Implementation of US Space Exploration Policy released its report, "A Journey to Inspire, Innovate, and Discover," on June 16th, 2004. The report states, "The Commission believes that commercialization of space should become the primary focus of the vision, and that the creation of a space-based industry will be one of the principal benefits of this journey. Today an independent space industry does not really exist. Instead, we have various government funded space programs and their vendors. Over the next several decades -- if the exploration vision is implemented to encourage this -- an entirely new set of businesses can emerge that will seek profit in space."

Even more encouraging is this: "The Commission believes that the private sector is willing and capable of providing the initial boost into low-Earth orbit for the payloads associated with the vision. To foster the continued development of this emerging market, the Commission believes that NASA should procure all of its low-Earth orbit launch services competitively on the commercial market." The Commission doesn't include the launch of humans in this recommendation, believing that will remain the purview of the government for the near-term. Considering that the privately owned SpaceShipOne carried two private citizens into space last year, this near-term may be quite short-term.

These successful flights demonstrated that the final frontier is now open to private enterprise. What had cost almost $1B in the 1960's with NASA's Mercury sub-orbital program cost an individual $20M today. Such is the power of advancing technology and increasing personal wealth. While this is just a first step, it begs two huge questions:

1    Is it necessary for the government to build multi-billion dollar vehicles when it can buy launch services from companies who can build multi-million dollar vehicles?

2.    Is it necessary for all space flights to begin and end at government launch facilities when a commercial airport was used for the launch and landing of a private space flight? Clearly, this is not your father's space program. In fact, it isn't just a "program" anymore; it's everything that touches our lives. From information technology to biotechnology to nanotechnology, this new vision will grow every high-tech sector of the economy, which is crucial to high-wage job creation and competing in a global market.

Does the idea of capitalism in space excite or dismay you? Does it stretch your imagination too much to be believed? Why? Why has space activity been viewed as somehow separate from everything else in our lives? Because from its inception humans have defined space as unique, foreboding, difficult, and far away. Space is too often seen as lifeless technologies and expensive programs, to which most people cannot relate. It's time for this to stop. Space must be placed in a new living, human context. Simply put, we are connected with and sustained by space, and therefore space is integral to our daily lives. Stated another way, space is nothing less than the ultimate global economic growth engine, and nothing more than another place for people to live, work, study, and play.

1.   A mere sixty-two miles above us, and thus a continuation of our environment (Many of you have a longer work commute)

2.   An extension of the economy, and thus part of our lives

3.   A place of abundant resources, and thus crucial to our survival and prosperity Space activity is no longer just a debate about what Federal programs should receive our tax dollars. It isn't limited to the moon vs. Mars and manned vs. robotic arguments. It encompasses everything about our lives, including issues rarely considered within a space context such as poverty, hunger, disease, security, environmental degradation, and resource constraints.

For some, this is an exciting time filled with hope, while others fear the commercialization of space. Either way, fasten your seat belt for the most incredible ride of the 21st Century! In our country, what was once an agrarian and then industrial economy, and is now an information economy, is in the earliest stages of becoming a space economy.