"There shall be wings! If the accomplishment be not for me, 'tis for some other."- Da Vinci

It turns out that the future of space exploration may not be as dead in the water as previously indicated.

Coming Soon- "Promised Manned Mission to Mars, Or how a giant rocket will make everyone forget about the Moon missions and the current lack of any space program".

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/biggest-ever-rocket-man-mars-160357782.html

After the interval- "One Year Until First Commercial Space Flight, Or Branson reckons billionaires will be whizzing about quicker than holidaymakers fleeing mansions on fire".
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/virgin-aims-first-space-launch-within-044339875.html

All jokes aside, why not have a sort of privateer space race? I'd like to see more independent companies beginning space programs. Imagine the development Honda could do, for Christ's sake! Privatised space travel would force government agencies such as NASA to compete. A sort of space race for peace time. I wouldn't go so far as to say that focussing on space travel will bring world peace, but some experts have said as much. I'd say that while the technology powerhouses and scientists are focussed on the great "out there", at least they won't be concentrating on new ways to blow people up.

If anything, it would give us a little bit more of a hold on this stay our species has booked at the Hotel Universe- as Robert Heinlein said, "The Earth is just too small and fragile a basket for the human race to keep all its eggs in." And if nothing else, it would encourage other designs and shapes of craft to be drawn up and, hopefully, take over from the spindly-winged Branson-Batwing. I still reckon it looks stupid.