I just got done reading this fantastic interview on Space.com with X-PRIZE founder and Zero Gravity Corporation CEO Peter Diamandis. It outlines perfectly in fewer words than I could use why the private sector is going to be so important in the coming decades in promoting and expanding space exploration, not just above the Earth but throughout the Solar System. Even better is that it’s coming from someone who has probably had more influence in developing the private space industry than anyone else.
Here’s a brief excerpt:
Peter Diamandis: Key to Lunar Frontier in Private Hands
By Andrea Thompson
Senior Writer - Space.com
posted: 20 July 2009
07:15 am ET
Forty years after the first manned moon landing on July 20, 1969, SPACE.com asked Apollo astronauts and leaders of the space community to ponder the past, present and future. X Prize founder Peter Diamandis discusses the disconnect between the promise of Apollo and today’s reality, and looks ahead to the future of private lunar exploration with the Google Lunar X Prize:
SPACE.COM: Do you remember the Apollo 11 landing?
Peter Diamandis: I remember the Apollo program, but I think it was Apollo 13 that really galvanized my interest, and sort of the drama and the ultimate victory of human ingenuity. But the Apollo program ultimately shaped my life and everything I’ve done. It was the most important formative activity of my life in that it made me aware of the ability for humanity to do literally unimaginable feats.
And the difficulty is that for a child, it sort of created expectations that were extraordinary that have never been matched again….(READ MORE)