That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
Neil Armstrong's most famous words, spoken over a crackled radio connection almost 240,000 miles above the earth, ushered in a new age of exploration for the world. The United States had "won" the space race, claiming the moon as its prize (because America!) and setting the stage for decades of space missions to the moon and beyond.
Not even 45 years later, the country's curiosity for space seems to have stalled. NASA launched its last manned mission in 2011 and currently has no plans to put an American into space again until at least the next decade. The percentage of the federal budget spent on the space program has steadily fallen since it peaked at over four percent in 1966. The government now spends less than half a percent - about $17 billion - on NASA.
Outside Washington, however, space has not fallen out of fashion. Alfonso Cuar??n's space thriller "Gravity" (2013) has raked in over $300 million worldwide, and astronomy courses at Tufts remain in high demand - although that may be due to Professor Lang's suave demeanor.
Despite the successes of the Curiosity rover, Congress sees little value in the huge expenditures required to keep NASA running. But is the space race really dead? A look to the private sector - where the best ideas come from - quickly reveals that the America's quest to touch the sky is far from over.
The Ansari X Prize - which awarded $10 million to the first team to launch a manned spacecraft twice within two weeks - began a new space race: the commercial space travel race. This race has pushed wealthy entrepreneurs to invest millions of dollars in the private space industry, launching dozens of space startups that hope to put paying passengers into orbit within the next 10 years.
Though many expeditions have - literally - failed to get off the ground, the commercial space race has already created several powerhouses, led by eccentric billionaires and ex-NASA scientists. Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin conglomerate, added Virgin Galactic to his list of brainchildren. Virgin Galactic grew out of a joint venture created for the Ansari X Prize, garnering funding from Microsoft co-chairman and billionaire Paul Allen. Arguably the most visible space venture - thanks in part to Branson's well-established persona - Virgin Galactic has already announced that it will charge $250,000 for space flight. As of August, the company had already sold over 600 tickets to wealthy individuals from Brangelina to Stephen Hawking.
SpaceX - founded by former PayPal executive Elon Musk - has earned several NASA contracts for its work on space cargo, though it hopes to eventually send people into orbit as well. Musk, who more regularly makes the news as the CEO of Tesla Motors, hopes to land a mission on Mars within the next 10 years.
Though NASA remains active in the space industry, companies likes SpaceX are attempting to do what NASA does on the cheap - again, using the term "cheap" loosely. The Russian Federal Space Agency has already employed some form of space tourism in its program, charging upwards of $20 million to wealthy executives for a ride on one of their missions. Some of you may remember the dismay our nation felt when former 'N Sync star Lance Bass was unable to come up with the funds to send himself into space. Though "cheaper" options, like a $75,000 "space gondola" have begun to appear, space tourism remains a hobby for the super rich. It's the 21st century's golf.
For now, enjoy the beautiful vistas that Earth - at ground level - has to offer.
Walt Laws-MacDonald is a junior majoring in quantitative economics. He can be reached at Walt.Laws_MacDonald@tufts.edu.
