This is a fantastic TED talk by the CEO of XCOR, one of the Mohave rocket startups. It is rather interesting that he left a (lucrative) job at Intel to do this, and that his main motivation was that we have regressed from where we were relative to the 1960's.
I have long argued that the Apollo program was a mixed success for the United States. The enormous expenditures and pressure of the Cold War had the effect of reaching into the 21st century, and borrowing a decade from the future. The downside is that we have languished ever since. I find it interesting that most of the excitement and progress these days is in the startup world--an while they are certainly not at the point of a moon launch, they are making progress.
Posted by elkaim at April 26, 2011 9:59 AM