<i>> Other than the space elevator does anyone have any ideas for a method to return from orbit that would not involved the need for extensive heat shielding and the vehicle resembling a falling asteroid or comet. </i><br /><br />Heatshields are here to stay for a while, space elevators and anti-Grav are not really on the horizon. Whether capsule or putative space plane, some kind of thermal protection is needed. How to improve the experience? One option for reusability is transparational cooling and metal or ceramic heatshield. For lowering crew G-loading there has been research (ARD, etc) into ballutes and hypersonic drogue shoots. <br /><br />There is nothing wrong with a base-first capsule, indeed plenty of safety and reliability are their forte'. The real question for passenger space travel is how comfortable, functional and how good the view is from your capsule. Except for SpaceDev's DreamChaser, all orbital craft on the drawing boards now are base-first capsules.<br /><br />What we need, product-wise are spacecraft that are simple for passengers (especially training time), have simple ground/landing procedures and multiple uses on-orbit (LEO, L1, Lunar, etc). Anyone rich/determined enough to get to orbit will put up with 2.5 - 4 Gs during reentry - there is already a proven market for similar Soyuz flights.<br /><br />Anti-gravity may not be possible, but there are other options. Laser-launch has been tested and could be used for supporting deorbit theoretically. Micromachined surfaces could eventually function as both heatshield and engine, using nanochanneling and various propellants. It would require loading some propellant on orbit, but would allow a DC-X type burn for landing.<br /><br />Josh <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center"><em>We need a first generation of pioneers.</em><br /></div> </div>