The spacefaring future

The prize was $25,000 when Charles Lindbergh made the first transatlantic flight in 1927. He named his plane Spirit of St. Louis because the head of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce provided $15,000 to finance the venture. Lindbergh had convinced him that success would turn St. Louis into an aviation hub.

St. Louis again was part of the story this week when SpaceShipOne, a privately built rocket, soared into space for the second time in five days to claim the Ansari X Prize. This time the prize was $10 million.

Scaled Composites, the company that built the spacecraft, invested $25 million in the project. Most of that was provided by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, no space cadet.

Like Lindbergh, Scaled Composites was better and more determined than their competition.

Putting a private rocket in space is not the accomplishment Lindbergh's was. Nobody had ever flown across the Atlantic Ocean before, while sending men and women into space almost has become commonplace.

But the notion that private companies might now be ready to get into the business of putting people in space is exciting. The Russians already have provided wealthy private individuals with adventures in weightlessness for a big fee. Space tourism now is on the horizon.

SpaceShipOne proves that ingenuity and some capital can do about anything. Can the Lunar Convention & Visitors Bureau be far behind?