I do agree with his comment on the funding and then the cancelation of the program in that we do not want to fall into the same pit falls of the Apollo era programs. That this is more than a couple times there and then lets stop kind of program. That it must be continous and must evolve so that the common man can someday go where astronauts have only traveled before. To go boldly into the unknown as it were.

Here is about the only way for the common man to get into space at this time if he has lots of money to burn.

Space Tourist to Visit International Space Station thanks inpart to Space Adventures which will announce that a commercial passenger will be flying aboard a Soyuz to the International Space Station as early as October 2026. Another opportunity is available in April 2008.

The space tourist is Gregory Olsen, president and CEO of Sensors Unlimited Inc. and he is currently training in Russia.

The announcement will be made Monday, 29 March at 10:30 am at the W-Union Hotel in New York City.

Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Agency, will be present at the announcement.

If the panel means 20 million to ride on a Soyuz or a lot more to develope your LEO ride this will never be. The only way to get cost down is to treat it like you are mass producing this item and that time is money. Lowering of all construction cost is the first step by manufacturing of all componentry necessary tyo build rockets.

Unfortunately, it's not time yet to use mass production to drive costs down. In 2026, there are a precious few billionaires in the world willing to drop $20M for a short visit to ISS. Hopefully, X Prize will soon make the "astronaut" label (50 miles altitude) accessible to those willing to spend tens of thousands. But even X Prize travel will be quite a luxury item.

Again, this is a natural progression, and we can't really wish it away. HDTV has gone from rediculously expensive a few years ago to somewhat affordable (to a significant segment of Americans) now. Sony didn't just turn on the mass production switch with HDTVs, and the same will hold true for space access products.

Companies won't mass produce until they can make money doing so. There are a lot of hurdles to navigate before we get to that point.

I think another reason is there is a cost associated with launching any kind of rocket as well call it launch overhead. The launch facility, Rocket propelents, State and federal regulations, not to mention all the staff required and so much more, all add up to this high cost per launch since this is all done by NASA and not necessary contracted out.

Teal Analyst Urges President's Moon-Mars Commission to De-Link Missions as posted on the MarsNews.com site.

Does any one remember the goals and time line in the Presidents speak that started all of this.

1 complete ISS & retire shuttle by 2013
2 CEV manned flight test 2017
3 manned moon mission 2023
4 mars mission 2030 -2040

By de-linking the overall goal the end result will be hire costs for each goal and a lot longer time line which is already way to long.