All the Best, Spaceship One!

Burt Ratan and his Scaled Composites crew is getting ready to snag the Ansari X-Prize on Monday morning. True, this is an event that borders on tech-geek-chic, but like all high tech breakthroughs, the implications of this milestone are already starting to filter through society.

Space tourism? Already in the works. Virgin Atlantic airlines has contracted Scaled Composites to build the first fleet of commercial spaceships, known as Virgin Galactic. Construction of the first spaceship, named (what else?) VSS Enterprise, will begin next year.