Space Case Race

Some days I look directly up. I wonder how soon humans will be living and working and conducting business in outer space. This century will see entrepreneurs, investors and various adventurers teaming up to colonize, democratize and commercialize off-earth properties.

Looking straight up makes me remember how I often daydreamed as a boy, dreaming of what it would be like to leave Earth. Apparently many Internet and computer industry veterans have the same desires today...and some of these guys have a tremendous amount of resources to draw upon. Today, as you read this, hundreds of smart, dedicated and imaginative engineers and scientists are using the most modern tools to make traveling to the stars a routine experience for our grandchildren.

The Seattle area alone is home to a few space exploration companies. Kent-based Blue Origin is headed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and is building launch vehicles. Bremerton-based Liftport is building a space elevator. This super-strong cable will be tethered to the earth and stretch up to a geosynchronous satellite. Planned completion is the year 2031...check out the countdown on their website. And then there is Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen whose team won the $10 million Ansari X Prize by flying a private space vehicle 62 miles straight up. Oh, and then there's a little aerospace start up called Boeing.

Kirkland-based Kistler Aerospace has merged with Oklahoma-based Rocketplane Limited to create Rocketplane Kistler, a company creating reusable aerospace vehicles.

Believe it or not, things actually happen outside of Seattle. Elon Musk, creator of PayPal has started SpaceX, a space exploration technology company.

Sir Richard Branson has created a space tourism company called Virgin Galactic.

Burt Rutan, visionary of modern flight, has been intimately involved on the projects with Paul Allen and Richard Branson. He is tha man behind the investments, engineering ideas into reality.

The New Mexico Space Port, a $200 million launch pad, is going to be a center of activity over the coming years as more and more space entrepreneurs bring their products to market.

As with any speculative industry, there will be companies that never make it, like the Forks, WA company Space Transportation which closed its doors in 2006. Another Seattle company called ZG Aerospce is also now defunct.

A list of dozens of private companies in the aerospace market can be found here.

Enjoy your flight. Please make sure your seat-back and tray table are in the upright position. Please secure your helmet and gloves.