billionaire paul allen

Liftoff for Space Tourism?

Burt Rutan's vision of private spaceflight rockets beyond the X Prize.

On June 21, Burt Rutan's innovative manned rocket, SpaceShipOne, touched down in the Mojave Desert after a historic trip into suborbital space. Pilot Mike Melvill flew the rocket to 328,491 feet, just barely punching out of the atmosphere. After touchdown, as the craft was being towed before a crowd of 27,000 spectators, newly crowned astronaut Melvill sat astride his spaceship holding a sign that read "SpaceShipOne, GovernmentZero."

If the flight does indeed mark the beginning of nongovernment-supported spaceflight, what comes next?

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