Before we small government types fall on the ground in ecstasy over the privatization of space flight, let us not forget that this feat is nothing that the jet fighters of 72 national air forces can't do whenever they get bored.

I am as big a fan of Bert's as anyone, but let the man get it in before we go squirting all over the sheets. It's really good to see the effort making progress but, without a clear mission, after the x prize is won, just how many tourists will be willing to pay tens of thousands for a 20 second rush?

Michael:

Sure, but this was merely a test of one component of an assembly which, if all goes as planned, will be able to do things that NO (unclassified) aircraft can do.

The normal trip will be far longer than twenty seconds, and would include five minutes of microgravity. Essentially, it would be the world's largest, and most dangerous, roller coaster.
As of May 2000, 4500 people had paid $12,000 to take the fighter jet trip to the outer atmosphere, as you point out is currently possible.
144 people had put down a $98,000 deposit for a trip that's still impossible.

By 2003, at least four people had paid $10 million for a brief stay in space aboard a space station.

According to the Deccan Herald, ascending Mount Everest costs $70,000... Flying into space might easily become a fad of the idle rich.

All of that is merely a way for a fledgling company and industry to survive, until better vehicles and/or better missions come into being.

Michael - It's those better missions that I wonder about. No "fad of the idle rich" could ever serve as the springboard to... what?

After we all have had our ten minutes of microgravity, or whatever other orbital tour becomes available, any sustainable use of a space entering capability would need some meat on its bones. I have yet to hear of anything approaching a killer app for a company that has a space travel capability.

Like NASA itself, a mission must be found, or space travel will become just another high tech toy; great hardware without useful software. What space travel needs before it can become more that an amusement is, a DESTINATION. Unless Congress can repeal the universal speed limit, the only destination that is within a reasonable time window will have to be constructed. Space lift costs will have to be diminished by several orders of magnitude before anything remotely like THAT becomes available.

Actually, the U.S. government had been supporting air development, giving Langley $50K for his experiments.

Langley's experiments would probably eventually have resulted in a flyable plane, as knowledge was advancing along a broad front.

The Wrights got ahead by adopting a systems analysis approach and by being smarter.

Mr. Gersh!

You'll watch your mouth mister or rue the day! There's no call for that kind of filthy language in Professor Judd's classroom. I've got a 12" ruler and a backhand that'll squirt something warm and red all over your desk alright! And if you think I won't pull out a few miles of hair while I'm over there, you've got another think coming!

Thanks, Sister, that is unnecessary, Mr. Gersh.

SHHHHHHHHHHHH!! We have to keep the Warp Drive program under wraps! My reference to meat on the bone is code to hide our real intentions from the enemy.