Hubble - A Special Delivery (Carina N.)

I shall remove myself from the politics of space momentarily to address an important milestone: even as the Shuttle, the ISS and Hubble are winding down, the last of the three is celebrating its 17th year in space with a panorama of the Carina Nebula:



It is funny, truly, that Hubble in the past few months has been pulling off a lot of stunts in the face of policy changes that are dictating its imminent destruction.

Downhill?

Often times, people worry about when that which is public becomes privatized. But as time goes on, I think a major exception to this is NASA. With the recent destruction of Columbia, postponement of most shuttle missions, imminent scrapping of Shuttle Atlantis, and the inability to make the new space vehicle with efficiency due to recent budget cuts in the face of Bush's new space proposeal, AS WELL AS the recent fiascos with the Diaper Astronaut and the Houston Killer, it seems that a gradual shift to privatization of space in more imminent. Yes, the process is slow. Yes, we are very efficient at unmanned space exploration. But the realm of manned space exploration is passing into the hands of individuals.

If you have the time, please read Patrick Collins' "The Economic Benefits of Space Tourism." It's a great, interesting read.