virgin times

anyone here part of the 100 mile high club?

the new frontier is closer than we imagine. richard branson, the daring billionaire, is taking his virgin airline to far new heights with virgin galactic. in particular, about 100km into the sky, and higher. truly amazing!, this journey 99.99% of the world has only dreamed about.

currently the only way for citizens to experience the true weightlessness and breath-taking scenes of space is to pay up $20 million us to the russian space agency. virgin galactic promises to fly 500 passengers a year for about $200,000 us each, starting in 2009. sure, its still for the wealthy, but as with all technology, prices will soon come down. one can imagine, within our lifetime, that we will be booking spaceline tickets online (whatever 'online' is 20years from now). and many of our children will almost certainly be afforded the opportunity to see the curvature of the earth from above and afar.

which raises a lot of questions. who will be the first baby born outside of planet earth? does that make it some sorta alien? yowsah. =)

by fault of the media, the public has come to see much of technological and scientific growth as enormous spurts of achievement. what most of us rarely hear about is the small breakthrough on a cloudy day in a small research lab. after years of research in chemistry, materials science, aeronautics, and a multitude of other fields, and with great financial commitments, these kinds of advancements become possible.

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it is man's natural ambition to explore and push boundaries, no matter how high the risks. many argue that we should first concern ourselves with the problems here on earth, disease, poverty, and education. but i strongly believe that man's pioneering adventures are just as important. where would we be had no brave soul set sail off the shores of europe? only history will gauge the success of our actions today; but one thing is certain, exploration must never be surrendered. by exploring our minds, our bodies, our world, and other far reaches, we learn, understand, and adapt more effectively in our changing environments.

centuries from now, when historians look back upon humanity in its youth, let us hope they see the forebearer of an evolved future. let us hope that man's instinct to advance his state of being will never cease, for it is the soul of progress.

the stars, though near
may disappear
if, for fear,
we remain here...