Ground Control to Space Ship One

I've always thought that a robust (read: well funded) national space program was the one of the best ideas that our public servants ever had.  I thought that President Bush's proposal to return the US to the moon and then go on to Mars was one of the best things about his administration.  After all, who else but Uncle Big Bucks Sam could afford to do something that big, that so few private individuals had any interest in?

Well those days have changed and it's probably about time that my thinking changed with them.  Although I was initially very disappointed, President Obama's new budget for NASA is apparently designed to encourage the private sector to take over the heavy lifting, while NASA continues working on more far reaching projects.  Esther Dyson, one of the people whose work and thinking I most admire, has authored an article in next month's Foreign Policy magazine that agrees with this approach.

Tell me what you think.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/08/prepare_for_liftoff