Public controlled space exploration

Something that caught my eye in two other threads was the idea of the people of this (and possibly other) countries having private or donating to a pool of funds that all go to the modernization of space faring equipment and soon thereafter to public space trips-exploration of the masses.

The government should divert some funds into building a VERY GOOD package that would propose how space would gush the human race into the future and that the only way we are to make it is to expand beyond earth... Hey, the project could be names 'Beyond Earth'!

Of course far more complex then what I have written about but you get the idea, no?

It should be done. But in the mean time big companies are trying to get into space. Once this is done, the rocket used will be mass produced and used worldwide.
Then we'll see space tourism and the weaponization of space!

Yes, it may be the only chance of survival, but we may also mess up the eco-system in space? Too many unknowns.

Originally posted by aSEEKER
Yes, it may be the only chance of survival, but we may also mess up the eco-system in space? Too many unknowns.

What Eco-system are you talking about. The only thing that can live in a vacuum are microorganisms and roaches(they can live for lightyears according to starship troopers ). Space is about as dead as you can get. Even more barren then the moon. There are no natural wildlife in space, no indiginous population of Indians. Space is ripe for the plucking, we can't worry about things that really have no bearing on the reality of space.

On the Discovery Channel Special on the Spaceship One Flight, you see Burt Rutan looking over some early drawings at his desk. He envisions Spaceship One as the baseline from which a whole series of ships will derive, flying into orbit and culminating in a private space station. Pretty ambitious stuff, but if anyone has the clout to get the thing started, its him.

I see a merge between.........


AND

Do you really believe anyone would dare to go to any spaceship if Micro$oft is handling "software department"!

Originally posted by ChrisRT
The government should divert some funds into building a VERY GOOD package that would propose how space would gush the human race into the future and that the only way we are to make it is to expand beyond earth... Hey, the project could be names 'Beyond Earth'!

I like the idea of a pool for public space travel, but feel governments should stay out. Or at least if governments are involved, then everything should be transparent and on the table.

But on another note, I wouldnt want this to be entirely in the hands of private corporations. Imagine what it would cost to view the Hubble images or any images from the Apollo missions and etc. , if some private company alone claimed exclusive rights to all data and images.