Jews join the quest for space commerce

[Boris_Badenov]

In the 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey," a commercial Pan Am Space Clipper flight carries civilians to the wheel-shaped Space Station V, which features a Hilton Hotel and a Howard Johnson's. Naturally, the calls to Earth via videophone are handled by AT&T's forerunner Bell, and the charges for the call go on American Express. <br /><br />While the film's rampant commercialism was more social commentary than foresight, recent technological advances have boosted private enterprise into a field once considered government's exclusive domain. <br /><br />Commercial space interests are now playing a critical role in the dawn of the second space age -- one built on business ventures and international cooperation. Instead of Hilton and Pan Am, the corporate names associated with the commercialization of space include Budget Suites and Virgin. <br /><br />A new space race by corporate interests is being fueled by the dreams -- and wallets -- of prosperous entrepreneurs. Their investments are leading to the kind of technological developments that seemed like science fiction a decade ago. And Jews are represented in all aspects of the field, from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to former NASA director turned consultant Dan Golden. "It's at every level. You see Jews in leadership positions as well as rank-and-file engineers and lawyers," said Mike Gold, a Brandeis graduate who serves as corporate counsel for Bigelow Aerospace, a commercial spacecraft and space habitat company founded by Budget Suites mogul Robert Bigelow. "It's part of the dream that a lot of people share." <br /><br />The tantalizing prospect of manned space travel was first realized by Yuri Gagarin's flight aboard the Soviet-made Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, which was followed by the U.S. team of Alan Shepard and John Glenn in NASA's Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962. Immediately after the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1968, air carriers Pan Am and TWA started taking reservations for future flights to the moon; Pan Am lo <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>

 

[webtaz99]

ummm.....hurray? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[webtaz99]

Coal is an abundant, cheap energy source. <br /><br />It takes thrust to get to space. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>