Just out of curiosity

[den]

What was stopping private companies from developing re-usable orbital vehicles before the X-Prize came along? Why are we seeing this now after 50 years of humans in space?

Comments

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

"If you ever ask 'why don't they make...' the answer is always 'Money.'" (I forget the source.)

So far the chief source of money in space is satellites in geosynchronous orbit. No manned, reusable vehicle we could come up with this quarter can do that. For that matter, the Shuttle can't. And since it can't make money this quarter, our Honest Businessmen aren't interested.

Even now, the spark isn't future fortunes to be made in space travel and using the resources of space. It's a frickin' little $10MM prize!

One shudders to think how air travel would have fared had it remained a government project. Back then the money was in airmail. We probably would have ended up with very safe, very high performance aircraft carrying mail across oceans, carrying mail under heavy government subsidy. They wouldn't allow passengers because it was too dangerous.

But instead, they hired contractors. Who wanted to make all the extra money they could, so they let a few passengers ride on the mailbags. Then they started putting in seats for them, and served them coffee, and after a while they invented the prepackaged, preheated chickenoid and Tato Turd lunch-on-a-disposable-tray. The rest is history.

[oceansedge.livejournal.com]

Now they're back to letting ride on mailbags, and you want coffee, chickenoid and tato turds.... ya pay $12/plate for em. All hail the discount airline!

[skipai.livejournal.com]

Awww. Never flown by British Airways then I take it? :) Proper meals on there. Should be since every meal is made by a proper chef and not some microwave stuff you get :D