perfidy

'Things like this give me hope that perhaps, just maybe, it will be me rather than my grandchildren that will get an opportunity to go into space.'

what's so great about space?

TAM,
aside from the fact that it's just cool?

For me at least, it's a couple interconnected things. First is my lifelong attraction to science fictiony stuff. I like to see the magic happen for real. Second is the axiom that exploration drives innovation. Getting into space requires a lot of dedicated thinkery from very smart people. Aside from keeping those smart people from becoming unabombers or philosophy majors, having them all think about creative solutions to big problems results in countless collateral benefits. Just witness the explosion of cool-ass stuff that came out of the Apollo and Shuttle programs, and witness the dearth of same ever since NASA turned itself into a petrified monolith of inconvenience. In short, the quest for better/cheaper/faster space flight makes life better.

And there are other concerns. It would be nice for the USA to have a semi-military presence in space. This is because I live in the USA, and imagine that someday some other entity will try something using orbital platforms as a weapon. Also, Burt Rutan's company referred to above is a private company that goes to space. The privatization of space flight means it will be cheaper and easier-- we could have sub-orbital Delta or British Airways flights from Bankok to New York someday soon. Transportation will be faster, supply chains will reorganize, and the global pace of trade and business will move faster. I like that

One last idea. Ultimately, though it's a quixotic, blue-sky notion, I think that humanity's long-term future lies outside the embrace of Earth's gravity well.

Tsiolkovsky, at the beginning of the space age, said that Earth is the cradle of mankind, but man can't stay in the cradle forever.

I think this is true. If we stay here on Earth, we will eventually face the problem of stagnation. We need to move into space so that we can grow, and create whatever destiny awaits us.

"what's so great about space"

Replace the word "space" with "the next valley over" or "across the river" or "west" or "the new world" or almost anything else.

Mankind is defined by the desire to explore the unknown. We've got the sea and space, and we're looking hard at both.

as long as i get a blue lightsaber I'm cool

TAM, I am so with you on that one. Of all the gadgets ever protrayed in sf movies or books, the lightsaber is the one I most want. Even though it is of no conceivable use, and I'd likely chop my own arm off within the first five minutes.