"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
ink.net...

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

Someone might have said the same thing to the Wrights.


Where's the similarity? The Wrights were the first to achieve powered,
sustained, controlled heavier-than-air flight. Nobody had accomplished
that
before the Wrights on December 17, 1903. But manned suborbital flight HAS
been accomplished before, four times before, and it was last done over
forty
years ago. If manned suborbital spaceflight had any real usefulness why
did
it stop?


The earlier flights were not done in a re-usable spacecraft.



The idea is to prove that privately financed space travel is both
feasible
and reasonable. No government has managed to do what Rutan and
the others are attempting. The prize has the additional advantage of
attracting media attention so that, once it has been won, public
interest in space tourism will be generated.


So the ultimate goal is passenger hops as a commercial venture?

Yes.