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We have spent $100s of billions of dollars to come to the place that we can put seven people in space for short periods of time. When not spent $10 to $20 billion to faciliate thousands being able to enter space?

This is NASA we're talking about here. Their goals have never been to open up space for the average person. Even if they have this new whiz-bang SSTO toy they can be expected to:

1. Make it more inefficient and expensive than anyone could imagine. (They were predicting $100/lb. to LEO for the shuttle in the 70's.)

2. Only allow super-elites to ride their toy. No civilians except politically correct feel-good choices from NASA for a PR stunt. (McCauliffe,Glenn redux)

This just isn't a game that NASA wants to play. It's up to private non-government orginizations to get us to the point of Arthur C. Clarke's vision in 2001 A Space Odyssey.

I envision the project to get the space plane off the drawing board and onto a runway somewhere near you, and you, and you...

As for NASA, as soon as that space plane is a reality, I'd close it down. I'd then wait three years. At the end of three years I'd develop some form of national service like the Navy to oversee it.

Why do I suggest that? All we need is for some NGO like the Sierra Club or Greenpeace to get their meat-hooks into it. I'm open to any suggestions, but I'll be damned if I'll agree to another NGO taking over. I may dislike government, but at least they answer to someone. Those NGOs don't answer to anyone including God.